Tornado watch issued for Beaufort Co, as Tropical Storm Nicole heads north
The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for Beaufort County on Thursday that is set to expire by 7 p.m.
A watch means a tornado is possible within the area. Even though it does not mean a tornado has been spotted on radar, residents should still review and discuss emergency plans and check supplies and a safe room, the weather service said. Isolated wind gusts could reach 70 mph and hail up to half-an-inch is possible, a NWS tweet read.
The alert comes as Tropical Storm Nicole is weakening and moving across the Florida peninsula and into Georgia after making landfall slightly south of Vero Beach, Florida, as a Category 1 hurricane at about 3 a.m. Thursday. When Nicole passes through South Carolina, meteorologists predict the storm will become a tropical depression.
During a routine weather briefing Thursday morning, meteorologists said the threat of tropical tornadoes related to Nicole increased from earlier in the week. The threat of isolated tornadoes Beaufort County will continue throughout Thursday.
Ron Morales, meteorologist with the Charleston office, said during the briefing that tropical tornadoes are “very hard to warn for,” and if an isolated tornado hits, it would touch for a short 30 to 60 seconds with about a minute of warning.
“They’re difficult to see (on radar), because they’re not very deep in the atmosphere, they’re small and they don’t last very long,” Morales said.
As of Thursday afternoon, Beaufort County also remained under a tropical storm warning, a storm surge watch and a high surf advisory.
This story was originally published November 10, 2022 at 1:17 PM.
