Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 178, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

June 16, 1998Anderson County, Pickens County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 16, 1998, 2:44 AM EDT for Anderson County, Pickens County, South Carolina. It was in force for 46 min. 5 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Jun 16, 1998, 2:44 AM EDT (06:44 UTC)
Expired: Jun 16, 1998, 3:30 AM EDT
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

Counties Anderson County, SC, Pickens County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 47 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:44 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where
Jun 16, 2:50 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Townville, SC
Jun 16, 2:50 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Starr, SC
Jun 16, 2:55 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 57	Clemson, SC
Jun 16, 3:10 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Anderson, SC
Jun 16, 3:15 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Easley, SC

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jun 15, 11:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 00:00Z, 6.7 hours before the alert went out and 224 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 966 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1804 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 79 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 90 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 2.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

280 
WUUS1 KGSP 160646 RRA
SVRGSP
SCC007-077-160730-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
244 AM EDT TUE JUN 16 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN PICKENS COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA
  NORTHERN ANDERSON COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 330 AM EDT

* AT 243 AM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM NEAR WESTMINSTER...OR ABOUT 8 MILES SOUTH OF
WALHALLA.
  ..MOVING EAST AT NEARLY 60 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  CLEMSON AT 300 AM
  PENDLETON AT 300 AM
  POWDERSVILLE AT 310 AM
  EASLEY AT 310 AM

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WINDS CAN REACH SPEEDS OF 60 TO OVER 100 MPH.
THESE WINDS BLOW DOWN TREES...POWER LINES...AND SEVERELY DAMAGE
MOBILE HOMES AND SOMETIMES BUILDINGS. VERY LARGE OR WIND-DRIVEN HAIL
CAN INJURE ANYONE CAUGHT OUTSIDE.

JONES

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jun 16, 2:12 AM EDT, 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 16, 2:12 AM EDT, 32 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
212 AM EDT TUE JUN 16 1998

RAH: WILL NEED TO DEAL WITH CURRENT TSRA FOR SRN ZONES.
CAE/FFC: HIGH MORNING POPS.

NOT MUCH TIME TO TALK WITH TSRA BEARING DOWN ON CWA. NRN SECTION OF BOW
REMNANTS APPEARS TO BE WEAKENING BELOW SVR BUT STILL STRONG WITH GVL
GUSTING TO 33 KTS. BEST PARAMETERS FOR SVR APPEAR TO BE SRN/ERN CWA
ALONG BEST LOW LEVEL MOISTURE GRADIENT. SOME NEW TSRA FORMING ON NRN END
OF BOW ECHO REMNANTS. RAH WILL HAVE TO ACCOUNT FOR THIS ACROSS SRN
ZONES. LARGE AREA OF PRECIP AND ADDITIONAL TSRA TO WEST. WILL NEED HIGH
MORNING POPS ACROSS NE GA/SC. ETA SHOWS BRIEF DRYING AND SUBSIDENCE
LATER THIS MORNING. THEN SOME MOISTURE CONVERGENCE AND RETURN ALONG
WITH SOME LIFT ASSOCIATED WITH SFC TROF NEAR MS VLY. MAY NEED SOME
AFT/EVE POPS TO COVER SCT CONVECTION WITH THIS. LONGER LIVED DRYING TO
OCCUR AFTER TROF PASSAGE. LOOKS LIKE DRY WX OVERNIGHT TONIGHT AND WED.

FAN FCSTING WARM TEMPS AND AT FIRST GLANCE LOOK OK. NUMBERS SHOWN HERE
WILL ONLY BE QUICK FIRST GUESS.

AVL 85/61/86 4/1/0
CLT 92/69/93 4/1/0
GSP 90/67/92 5/1/0

RWH

The office that day

Everything else NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 16, 2:28 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Oconee	47 min
Jun 16, 3:15 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Greenville	50 min
Jun 16, 3:26 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Laurens	34 min
Jun 16, 3:46 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Spartanburg, Union	49 min
Jun 16, 4:00 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Chester	50 min
Jun 16, 7:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Abbeville	35 min
Jun 16, 7:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Greenwood	14 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 1998 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1998

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.