Severe weather shifts, but threat of tornadoes, powerful storms remains for Midlands
The greatest threat of severe weather on Thursday has shifted away from the Columbia area, but powerful storms and tornadoes are still possible in the Midlands, according to the forecast.
A cold front moving across South Carolina is projected to head south of the Columbia area, the National Weather Service said just before 11 a.m. in a severe weather briefing.
In spite of the shift, the threat of severe weather remains in both the afternoon and early evening, according to the NWS.
Scattered severe thunderstorms and isolated tornadoes are possible, and damaging wind gusts at about 60 mph remains the main threat, weather officials said.
The NWS said the worst effects of the storm are expected to cause considerable damage to trees and branches, which pose a threat to power lines. Additionally, damage to mobile homes, roofs and outbuildings is possible, while businesses and vehicles would also be under siege in the case of a tornado.
The forecast shows heavy rainfall — which could cause flash flooding in low-lying areas — and large hail, one inch or greater, are other severe weather effects possible in the storms.
A lake wind advisory has been issued from noon until Friday, but no warnings or watches have been issued by the NWS.
It might begin to rain before 1 p.m., but the greatest effects of the severe weather are not expected until after 2 p.m., according to the forecast. The rain is expected to clear by Friday, when it’s supposed to be sunny with a possible high of 80 degrees, the NWS said.
The areas in the greatest jeopardy of the storms are in the southern Midlands, especially across Barnwell, Bamberg and Orangeburg counties, it said in the briefing.
All three were counties are where tornadoes touched down last week, when at least 20 twisters were reported hitting South Carolina in a massive storm.
On April 13, severe weather in the early morning caused nine deaths, more injuries, in addition to damaged and destroyed property. Additionally, more than 280,000 South Carolina power customers reported outages following the storms.
Of the 20 confirmed tornadoes, one was an EF0; seven were EF1s; five were EF2s and seven were EF3s, NWS meteorologist Whitney Smith told The State.
Eight of the tornadoes touched down in the Midlands region, the NWS said. Five of them were EF3s, with wind speeds between 136-165 mph.
It’s not uncommon at this time of year for separate storms and tornadoes to form in the Columbia area, according to the NWS. April is annually the peak month in South Carolina for twisters, and May is also active.
What is unusual is the number of tornadoes recorded last week.
The 20 tornadoes are the most documented since 32 were confirmed on March 15, 2008, NWS official Frank Alsheimer told The State.
The storms prompted Gov. Henry McMaster to declare a second state of emergency for South Carolina on top of the emergency declaration in place due to the coronavirus.
