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Damaging Winds And Tornadoes Possible Over South Carolina Thursday

Severe Weather Outlook For Thursday
Megan Borowski / SCEIN
/
NOAA Storm Prediction Center

A strong storm system that is expected to produce an outbreak of tornadoes and damaging winds over Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia is increasingly likely to extend into the Palmetto State on Thursday.

An extensive area of warm, humid, and unstable air will flow northward from the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday. The winds high in the atmosphere are strong in the spring months and, in concert with unstable air mass, are likely to contribute to a severe weather episode over the Deep South. Thunderstorms with hail, damaging winds, and strong tornadoes are most likely to form over east Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana around midday Wednesday and spread eastward into Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia late Wednesday afternoon and night.

Showers and thunderstorms are possible over South Carolina as soon as Wednesday afternoon and night, but the greatest risk of damaging weather should hold off until the daylight hours of Thursday. Residents in the Upstate could see strong storms as soon as Thursday morning before the storms spread to the remainder of the state Thursday afternoon and move offshore around sunset.

Computer model simulations are forecasting particularly strong wind shear in the lowest few thousand feet of the atmosphere from about mid-morning Thursday through the afternoon. Daytime heating will make the air unstable and this environment may be supportive of a few strong tornadoes and straight-line winds. Residents are encouraged to review their tornado and severe weather plans over the coming couple of days, should they need to act on them on Thursday.