Charleston Weather

Tagged: tornadoes RSS

• 

  Jared Smith 9:17 am on April 25, 2010 Permalink
  Tags: damaging winds, large hail, Severe Weather (16), tornadoes   

  Sunday severe threat 

  The storm system that’s put the Midwest, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky under the severe weather gun over the past two days is pushing toward the coast today. While the atmospheric ingredients are certainly nowhere near what is needed for the widespread tornadic activity to our west, the potential remains for damaging winds, large hail, and perhaps isolated tornadoes over the Lowcountry.

  Storms with occasionally heavy rain are trekking across the area this morning. Those will move aside by midday, allowing for a bit of clearing and heating to occur, which could fuel additional thunderstorm activity through this evening. High tide at Charleston Harbor is at 6:48 PM, so any heavy thunderstorms along the coast this evening might also cause some flooding trouble downtown.

  Here’s what the Storm Prediction Center has to say:

  …CAROLINAS…
  AMPLE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE HAS RETURNED TO PARTS OF SC/NC TODAY WITH
  DEWPOINTS IN THE MID 60S. WATER VAPOR LOOPS SUGGEST RAPID MID LEVEL
  DRYING WILL OVERSPREAD THIS REGION TODAY…BRINGING STRONG HEATING
  AND VEERING LOW LEVEL WINDS. SEVERAL MODEL SOLUTIONS SUGGEST THE
  POTENTIAL FOR ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT LATE THIS AFTERNOON
  OVER EASTERN SC/NC…WITH STORMS TRACKING NORTHEASTWARD TOWARD THE
  COAST AFTER DARK. IF THIS SCENARIO OCCURS…THERE WOULD BE A RISK
  OF HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS IN THE STRONGEST CELLS.

  And from NWS Charleston:

  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS…A STRONG STORM SYSTEM WITH A HISTORY OF
  PRODUCING SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES…
  WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EASTWARD TODAY. THE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER
  IS EXPECTED TO SHIFT INTO SOUTHEAST GEORGIA AND THE EASTERN
  CAROLINAS TODAY AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT. WHILE ISOLATED
  THUNDERSTORMS WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND GUSTS ARE POSSIBLE
  THROUGH LATE MORNING…THE BETTER CHANCES FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL
  BE FROM AROUND MIDDAY INTO THIS EVENING ACROSS THE REGION. IN
  ADDITION TO LARGE HAIL OF 1 INCH OR GREATER AND DAMAGING WIND
  GUSTS…THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR ISOLATED TORNADOES.

  Follow @chswx on Twitter and you can receive watches, warnings, and other periodic forecasts to your cell phone simply by using Twitter’s built in SMS service. Watch @chswxextra for updates to this blog or additional background information as events unfold.

  Of course, the most reliable source of weather information and warnings is a NOAA Weather Radio. You can pick these up at most grocery stores, RadioShack, etc. Ensure that your alarm is set to the “on” position so you can be immediately alerted to any severe thunderstorm or tornado warnings that may be issued.

  Jared Smith is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
  • 

    Jared Smith 7:15 pm on April 25, 2010 Permalink

    Looks like the chance of widespread severe weather is diminishing. We’re still not completely out of the woods yet but things are looking better. From the latest AFD:

    THE 18Z KCHS RAOB REVEALED SIGNIFICANT MID LEVEL DRYING AS
    EXPECTED…BUT NOT ENOUGH TO PREVENT THUNDERSTORMS FROM
    DEVELOPING THROUGH EARLY EVENING AHEAD OF A DEWPOINT BOUNDARY
    ADVANCING INTO THE REGION FROM THE WEST. ALTHOUGH THUNDERSTORM
    COVERAGE MAY REMAIN LIMITED DUE TO THE CONTINUED MID LEVEL
    DRYING…KINEMATIC PARAMETERS AND INCREASING INSTABILITY WILL
    CONTINUE TO FAVOR ISOLATED SUPERCELLS WITH DAMAGING WINDS…LARGE
    HAIL AND ISOLATED TORNADOES UNTIL AFTER DARK. THUS…LOWERED POPS
    A BIT INTO THE CHANCE CATEGORY…BUT CONTINUED TO MENTION THE
    POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE WEATHER.

    A mesoscale discussion from around 6:30 indicated a watch coming soon along the SC coast; however, that’s yet to materialize. The threat may become so isolated that a watch issuance becomes unnecessary. (Fingers crossed there!)

  Reply Click here to cancel reply.

  Name (required)

  Email (required)

  Web Site

   
• 

  Jared Smith 6:28 pm on June 14, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: heavy rain (3), nexrad, tornadoes   

  Sheets & Buckets 

  So a little backstory: I was on a drive back from WordCampRDU this weekend, about to hit my last leg into Charleston. I was getting some e-mails from Weather Underground saying that some strong storms had fired over West Ashley and that given my timing I was probably going to hit them.
  

  

  Storm totals as of 5:30 -- the red is right around my complex, indicating 3-4+ inches of rain.

  
  And hit them I did! As I crossed the Westmoreland Bridge (the bridge over the Ashley that separates North Charleston from Charleston on 526) I lost all visibility thanks to driving rain and very gusty winds. I slowed to a crawl, pulled my phone out, and saw the tornado warning waiting for me. Many cars were stopped on 526; however, I was able to inch along and finally get off the freeway. Upon turning onto Magwood Road, I saw the wind increase and start throwing quite a bit of branches and leaves across the road. I saw a tattered American flag being battered by the wind and knew that this was definitely not your ordinary severe thunderstorm.

  Upon arriving home the rain continued to beat down, and I noticed that the water had completely escaped the banks of the ditches and, in some cases, was flowing into streets and flooding the parking lots. The complex is close to marsh, and thus a bit more susceptible to flooding than you might think outside of downtown. It takes a pretty decent rainfall for this to happen, and that was definitely in place, as the RADAR-estimated storm rainfall total map illustrates. Here’s a slideshow of the aftermath:

  Also check out a shot from Sullivan’s Island by WCBD’s Brendan Clark.