Fact check: Is the Myrtle Beach, SC area seeing an uptick in tornadoes?
Myrtle Beach’s seen an uptick in tornadoes recently, but one expert says the area isn’t becoming more prone to them.
The National Weather Service’s Wilmington, N.C. site issued a tornado watch for Horry County and Georgetown County Tuesday, Jan. 9. The current tornado watch is supposed to last until 6 p.m. EST. While Myrtle Beach has seen two tornadoes in recent months, the Grand Strand has not seen a particular uptick in activity recently, National Weather Service Wilmington, N.C. meteorologist Steven Pfaff said.
“It varies. It bounces around; you go a year without anything, and then you go a year where you’ve had a few in the county, in particular, the regional would be similar,” Pfaff said. “So there haven’t really been any noticeable trends. In our area that I’m aware of.”
Pfaff added that there are a couple of times a year when there is peak tornado activity, particularly between March and May as well as September.
“What it really comes down to (is) when the atmosphere has the right type of change in the wind. In especially the lower part of the atmosphere, we call that wind shear how wind changes with direction as you go up through the atmosphere and with speed as you build up,” Pfaff added. “You have an atmosphere that turns clockwise and increases in speed that allows for rotation and thunderstorms, and of course, those are the ones that produce the tornado ... we don’t really have those conditions set up too often like other parts of the country.”
Pfaff also said areas like the Gulf Coast states, Nebraska, Kansas, North Texas and areas along the Ohio River called “Hoosier Alley” are where most peak tornado activity occurs. He added that the Carolinas does have its own corridor of tornado activity, which runs from Bennettsville, S.C. to Raleigh, N.C.
Despite not being ideal ground for a tornado, Myrtle Beach has witnessed some in recent months.
The National Weather Service’s Wilmington location confirmed a tornado landed in the Myrtle Beach area Dec. 17, 2023, and the Cherry Grove section of North Myrtle Beach felt the brunt of a tornado Aug. 31, 2023.
