South Atlantic Coastal Waters, 2021

Waterspout in South Atlantic Coastal Waters, August 10, 2021

August 10, 2021 · NWS CHS · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Light winds and high moisture led to conditions favorable for waterspouts along a line of cumulus clouds over coastal waters.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS CHS wrote it up.

Light winds and high moisture led to conditions favorable for waterspouts along a line of cumulus clouds over coastal waters.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Charleston, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 10, 9:13 AM EST, 1 hour 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 10, 9:13 AM EST, 1 hour 32 minutes before
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Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 10, 2:26 AM EST, 8 hours 19 minutes before
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<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
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        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
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The radar

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 15:46 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 waterspout. Local standard time, as filed.

Waterspout, Edisto Beach Sc to Savannah Ga Out 20nm

When
August 10, 10:45 AM EST to 11:45 AM EST
Where
Edisto Beach Sc to Savannah Ga Out 20nm forecast zone, 21.46 mi SE of Hilton Head Sound
Reported by
Public
Coordinates
32.000, -80.450

The public reported as many as 10 funnel clouds and 5 waterspouts approximately 12 nautical miles from the coast of Hilton Head Island, SC.

What these are

Waterspout
A tornado over water. One that moves ashore is filed as a tornado from the coastline on.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in South Atlantic Coastal Waters in 2021Every state in 2021This day in weather history

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 979048.