Severe Weather and Flood Safety Week: Watches and warnings

SOUTH CAROLINA (WTOC) - March 2 through March 8 is Severe Weather and Flood Safety Week across the state of South Carolina.

Each day of this week, we will be covering various severe weather topics to better prepare you and your family for any weather situation that may arise this spring.

The most common form of severe weather we see here are Severe Thunderstorms. We usually talk about what type of strength or magnitude we could see within a few days prior to the weather event arriving using our SPC Severe Storm outlooks.

This is the 1 to 5 scale of shaded areas we show for days leading up to the event. Five being the worst, and uncommon. This tool basically gives us, and the public, an idea of how many severe storms we could see during an event.

If a storm becomes capable of producing wind gusts 58+ mph or hail stones measuring <1″ in size, then it is considered to be a severe storm.

That means it is no longer recommended for anyone to spend time outdoors until the severe storm warning is over or no longer in your area.

A tornado warning is only issued for an area after a storm has either been spotted or if it has been indicated to have strong enough rotation on radar.

Whereas if a thunderstorm or tornado watch has been issued for an area, that means the atmospheric conditions are becoming more favorable to see a severe storm form within a certain period.

Watches are basically a “heads up” to keep your eyes out and pay attention before the bad weather starts to move in.

On both the free WTOC First Alert Weather app and NOAA Weather Radios, watches and warnings are normally issued by the county instead of the city. Make sure you know what county you live in.