09/07/04 NOW: East Coast, North and South Carolina

[Geoff Boyle]

Wow, looks like we got some action over at the east coast. Got a few tornado warnings up as well. Got a lot of spotter reports around South Carolina. The radar looks pretty busy, a lot of rain is falling.

Anyone chasing there?

 

[Glen Romine]

Doubtful anyone is chasing there from here (ST), but it is a very interesting case - perhaps one of the most prolific mini-supercell cases I've come across. Through 1853Z today, already 30 tornado reports. Wow! Environment remains quite favorable for more tornadic action - though you must look down low to convince yourself of this. Using the SPC mesoscale forecast parms, note the high 0-3 km CAPE (> 100 J/Kg), focused moisture convergence along coastal boundary, high 0-1 km SRH (~ 300 in convective region), along with adequate deep layer shear (> 30 knts) to maintain storm-scale rotation. Look closely at the animations of the stronger cells, and you can see the effect "ringing" effect around the cells caused by the loca subsidence that tends to clear out precip immediately adjacent to the cells, so despite the apparent widespread rain around the storms, many of these tornadoes are probably visible at close range, as perhaps apparent from the numerous reports already made. While the terrain in the coastal plain looks pretty flat, there are numerous rivers and I would expect LOTS of tall trees.

Glen

 

[Geoff Boyle]

Wow, there is a whole lot of moisture with that system. Flooding is going to be a problem.

 

[Tyler Yarnell]

Crazy day today, I woke up to tornado warnings going up everywhere. The TV stations didn't even break in to coverage until really late. From what I have saw one touched down north of here in Richland County SC. Apparently alot of damage in Fort Jackson and Shaw AFB. I had a nice view of everything from my dorm on the 8th floor, saw quite a few lowerings, but never really got any rotation on any of them.

 

[Stuart Robinson]

some 60 plus tornados reported ...

 

[Glen Romine]

Originally posted by Stuart Robinson
some 60 plus tornados reported ...

Last check on SPC's web site only lists 42 as of 0145Z, but a prolific day none the less. Seems SPC was a bit conservative in nailing down the tornadic threat today - while no reports of injuries, the shear volume and concentration of reports, particularly in the Carolinas, would seem to have warranted a greater than 5% risk of tornadoes - and it's not like that area wasn't fairly evident as the region of focus for today. Nevertheless, the tornadoes associated with Frances has been impressive - and another day is yet to come for Virginia.

Total tornado reports so far from Frances: 67

Tornado warnings still trickling out this evening. The coastal front has drifted back closer to the shoreline, but the low-level instability and shear remain adequate to support at least some tornado threat, though the convection is started to quiet down now some. Based on flood warning text, 4-8 inch rainfall amounts fairly widespread, so certainly some flooding hazards emerging as well.

Glen

 

[Tyler Yarnell]

Pretty wild that I was on Youngblood Drive last night and the Buster Boyd Bridge, my house is not 3 miles away from there. I talked to my mom and she said the only damage she had was two of her flower pots tipped over and the garbage can had blown across the street.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/today.html

 

[Bridget Beddow]

Glen Romine wrote:

convection is started to quiet down now some. Based on flood warning text, 4-8 inch rainfall amounts fairly widespread, so certainly some flooding hazards emerging as well.

We've had alot of rain since Saturday, and I was a little surprised when one of my coworkers came in this morning and said that he heard on the radio that alot of roads are out in the Ashboro area due to mudslides. We've had so much rain (GA and SC included) that it won't take much for things to fall apart.

I was surprised to hear about the mudslides though, that's not a common thing in that area, even though one would think it is.

On my way in to work I heard the middle portion of NC has some tornado watches going on.

Wish I could be chasin, but I've got to be here at work, so more's the pity.

 

[Carrie Halliday]

I logged on the Severe Weather reports site yesterday and WOW, whole page of tornado warnings! I couldn't read them all, but seemed concentrated to the SC area. Confirmed this morning on a check on Storm reports from the SPC.

I see that Sumter was hit hard, isn't is somewhat unusual for a tornado spawned from a tropical system to be that strong? I thought that they usually are weaker associated with dying hurricanes. I don't know what the F rating was on this one, but if 30+ homes are destroyed then it must have been something stronger. That is assuming these were not mobile homes or up on blocks. Not familiar with the structures in that area.

If I am wrong, I apologize. We need a Weather Urban Legends page to refer to.

 

[Bridget Beddow]

Carrie Halliday wrote:

see that Sumter was hit hard, isn't is somewhat unusual for a tornado spawned from a tropical system to be that strong? I thought that they usually are weaker associated with dying hurricanes. I don't know what the F rating was on this one, but if 30+ homes are destroyed then it must have been something stronger. That is assuming these were not mobile homes or up on blocks. Not familiar with the structures in that area.

Carrie, I'm certainly no meteorologist, but I'm going to take a guess at this one.

Most of the storms that cross the NC SC areas do spawn tornadoes, but we also have some cooler temperatures due to the mountains in the west and the cool ocean air breathing in from the east. I think this reduces the magnitude of the storms we see, but with such a large system coming from a hurricane, I'm guessing that with the temperatures being low from the hurricane hitting the warm moist air that we've been experiencing has fed the storms spawned from the hurricane.

Just my guess-I could be very wrong.

 

[Pat Palmer]

I just got home from work here near Wash DC. There have been three tornadoes near me (Not in view), and another warning for Prince William County, where a touchdown was reported in Dumfries. I am now preparing for the chase.

Lots of cells popping up in cenral and northern VA.