The severe weather threat so far has yet to really materialize. Some strong storms flared earlier in the day, bringing some persistent heavy rain (at times dumping near a half-inch per hour according to radar estimations) across Colleton County into portions of Dorchester County. The storms have been on a weakening trend, though, as the expected instability has not yet yielded any major weather. RADAR indicates some storms packing heavy rain in Georgia, gradually moving NE, but the tornado threat has thankfully not borne itself out. As the sun goes down, so goes the threat for severe thunderstorms. After sunset, we’ll turn our attention to a swath of persistent heavy rain that has slowly been making its way across the Midlands. It will arrive overnight and stick with us through a lot of Tuesday. Thankfully, it’s been dry, which would mitigate any severe flooding, though we can’t rule out troubles downtown tomorrow morning.
Tagged: tornado watch 138 RSS
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Jared Smith
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Jared Smith
Tornado Watch until 10 PM for inland counties
The inland counties are under a tornado watch until 10 PM as a cold front advances against the seabreeze, creating a shear environment favorable for isolated tornado development in addition to large hail and damaging winds. But don’t take my word for it, here’s NWS in the latest Area Forecast Discussion:
ALREADY SEEING SEVERAL CLUSTERS OF STRONG TO SEVERE TSTMS
DEVELOPING ALONG THE LEDGE EDGE OF THE RAIN SHIELD IN CENTRAL
GEORGIA AS THEY ENCOUNTER THE WESTERN FRINGES OF THE INSTABILITY
AXIS THAT IS IN PLACE ACROSS EASTERN SOUTH CAROLINA INTO SOUTHEAST
GEORGIA. SEVERAL OF THESE CELLS HAVE ALREADY EXHIBITED SUPERCELLULAR
CHARACTERISTICS WITH OCCASIONAL MODEST GATE-TO-GATE SHEAR ZONES
NOTED. ATTM IT APPEARS THE RISK FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE
GREATEST ALONG AND WEST OF A MONCKS CORNER-EARLY BRANCH-
STATESBORO-REIDSVILLE LINE. THE RISK MAY EXTEND FARTHER EAST TO
THE CHARLESTON AND SAVANNAH METRO AREAS DEPENDING ON HOW MESOSCALE
PROCESSES ALIGN LATER THIS EVENING…BUT THE INCOMING MARINE LAYER
IN THE WAKE OF THE SEA BREEZE SHOULD HELP SUPPRESS STRONG
CONVECTIVE UPDRAFTS FROM FORMING. WILL CONTINUE TO HIGHLIGHT LARGE
HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS IN THE GRIDS AND TEXT PRODUCTS THIS
EVENING AWAY FROM THE COAST. WILL ALSO MENTION RAIN MAY BE HEAVY
AT TIMES AS INCREASING PWATS AND THE POTENTIAL FOR CONVECTIVE
TRAINING COULD LEAD TO SOME LOCALIZED FLOODING PROBLEMS.
FINALLY…THERE WILL ALSO BE A POTENTIAL FOR ISOLATED
TORNADOES…MAINLY WHERE MESOSCALE BOUNDARY INTERACTIONS SUCH AS
THE SEA BREEZE LOCALLY ENHANCE 0-1KM HELICITY VALUES.It’s worth noting that the coastal counties are not under a watch right now — that being said, there is always the possibility of a severe thunderstorm near (but not officially within) the watch area, so everyone in the Charleston metro area should keep an eye out this afternoon. Watch @chswx for any warnings or additional watches throughout the day.