A nice mid-June severe weather event

The Charleston area got rocked tonight by a line of severe thunderstorms that kicked off well into the Upstate and made the trek to the coast by this evening. I was at a ballgame and got chased out by excessive cloud-to-ground lightning, gusty winds, and eventually some fairly heavy rain. There were funnel clouds reported inland, but the lightning was the real story. Rob Fowler on Channel 2 shared several wonderful lightning shots on his Facebook page as well as on the 11:00 newscast tonight. This picture is a personal favorite.

For a great Google map with all the storm reports for today listed, as well as warning history and an archived look at the line on RADAR, see Iowa State’s Mesonet site.

We retain a chance of scattered afternoon thunderstorms for tomorrow, typical for summers in Charleston. The Storm Prediction Center has not yet singled out the area for a slight risk of severe weather (that remains to our north for the time being) but it can’t be ruled out. It’s definitely worth an eye to the skies.