(Columbia) Sept. 16, 2004 - The National Hurricane Center says tornadoes from Ivan are possible over through Friday for western South Carolina, along with eastern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle, western Georgia, eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina.

The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for all South Carolina Counties until 9:00pm. A watch means conditions are favorable for a tornado to develop. A tornado warning, which hasn't been issued, means a funnel cloud has been spotted and people in the affected area should take cover.  Severe Weather Alerts>>

The storm came ashore early Thursday as a Category 3 with 130 miles an hour winds but began weakening over land. It had weakened to 75 miles an hour by mid-morning.

Storm Team Chief Meteorologist Ken Aucoin says, "The track on the storm is very key to our weather the next couple of days. ... There's a good chance that we will see rain and a few thunderstorms, some possibly reaching severe limits," on Thursday evening and into Friday.

Max Mayfield, the director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, warned that the misery would spread as Ivan moves across the Southeast in the hours and days ahead, "I hate to think about what's going to happen inland."

Rain from Ivan reached the Midlands Thursday morning. Ken says, "We will be on the very wet side of it as it draws in Atlantic moisture and produces a lot of rainfall across Georgia and into portions of the Carolinas."

Forecasts call for three to six inches of rain east of Interstate 85 and as much as a foot of rain in the mountains. Ivan also could spawn tornadoes in a state still recovering from its largest tornado outbreak ever during Frances, "We will run the risk of perhaps some tornadoes," during the day Friday.

A flash flood watch is in effect for all the Upstate through Sunday morning, and a high wind watch is in effect for the South Carolina mountains from this evening through Friday morning as the area could see sustained winds of 40 miles per hour with gusts up to 60 miles per hour.

What remained of Frances caused a record-breaking tornado outbreak and torrential rains in South Carolina last week. South Carolina was on the right front when the remnants of Hurricane Frances moved through Georgia. The four National Weather Service offices that cover the state reported 37 tornadoes in two days. South Carolina averages just 12 tornadoes a year.

Much of South Carolina already is soaked from what was left of Hurricane Frances last week. Emergency officials worry it won't take much to push rivers out of their banks and pull trees from the moist soil.

While people in the western part of the state deal with Ivan, residents along the coast are looking out into the Atlantic at Tropical Storm Jeanne. Jeanne is expected to grow into a hurricane and continue to move toward the southeastern United States through Monday afternoon.

updated 12:38pm by Chris Rees with AP