Severe Weather Awareness Week in SC.......Thunderstorms - WCBD-TV: News, Weather, and Sports for Charleston, SC

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC

600 AM EST SUN MAR 3 2013

...SOUTH CAROLINA SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK TODAY THROUGH

SATURDAY...

EACH DAY THIS WEEK...YOUR NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON SC

WILL PROVIDE INFORMATION REGARDING SEVERE WEATHER. TODAY WE WILL

DISCUSS THUNDERSTORMS.

THUNDERSTORMS AFFECT RELATIVELY SMALL AREAS WHEN COMPARED TO

HURRICANES AND WINTER STORMS. A TYPICAL THUNDERSTORM IS 15 MILES IN

DIAMETER AND LASTS AROUND 30 MINUTES. SOMETIMES ORGANIZED SYSTEMS OF

MULTIPLE THUNDERSTORMS SUCH AS SQUALL LINES WILL PERSIST FOR MANY

HOURS AND WILL IMPACT LARGER AREAS.

ACROSS SOUTHEAST SOUTH CAROLINA...THUNDERSTORMS OCCUR ON AVERAGE 50

TO 60 DAYS EACH YEAR. THUNDERSTORMS OCCUR THROUGHOUT THE YEAR BUT

ARE MOST COMMON FROM JUNE THROUGH SEPTEMBER. DURING THIS TIME OF THE

YEAR...THUNDERSTORMS FREQUENTLY DEVELOP AS THE SEA BREEZE FORMS

ALONG THE COAST AND PUSHES INLAND THROUGH HOT...HUMID CONDITIONS.

THUNDERSTORMS CAN ALSO MOVE OFFSHORE OR DEVELOP OVER COASTAL

WATERS...POSING A DANGER TO BOATERS.

REGARDLESS OF SIZE AND DURATION...ALL THUNDERSTORMS ARE DANGEROUS

BECAUSE THEY PRODUCE LIGHTNING...WHICH WE WILL DISCUSS IN MORE

DETAIL TOMORROW. THUNDERSTORMS ALSO PRODUCE OTHER HAZARDS SUCH AS

STRONG WINDS...HAIL...HEAVY RAINFALL AND TORNADOES. WE WILL ALSO

DISCUSS THESE HAZARDS IN MORE DETAIL DURING THE UPCOMING WEEK.

CHECK OUT ADDITIONAL SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK INFORMATION ON

OUR WEB PAGE AT WWW/ERH.NOAA.GOV/CHS/...AS WELL ON FACEBOOK AT

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/US.NATIONALWEATHERSERVICE.CHARLESTONSC.GOV. YOU CAN

ALSO FOLLOW @NWSCHARLESTONSC ON TWITTER.

TOMORROW WE WILL DISCUSS THE DANGERS OF LIGHTNING.

$$