Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 19, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

April 3, 1998Swain County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 3, 1998, 6:33 PM EST for Swain County, North Carolina. It was in force for 57 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 3, 1998, 6:33 PM EST (23:33 UTC)
Expired: Apr 3, 1998, 7:30 PM EST
In force: 57 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Swain County, NC

The watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Apr 3, 6:00 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 253 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: 26 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 560 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 61 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 78 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 210 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 Apr 3, 2:06 PM EST, 4 hours 27 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 3, 2:06 PM EST, 4 hours 27 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
206 PM EST FRI APR 3 1998

CAE/RAH/FFC: LIKELY POPS TONIGHT...POSS SVR.  MOST CLEARING
              ON SATURDAY ACRS SC/GA.

SFC BNDRY CONTS LIFT NWD WEST OF THE MTNS THIS AFTERNOON WITH
ITS EASTERN EXTENT MAKING SLOWER NWD PROGRESS TOWARDS MY CWA
THANKS TO RAIN-COOLED STABLE AIRMASS IN PLACE.  LEADING EDGE
OF DRYING ALOFT IS WORKING THRU FA ATTM WITH A SHARP BACK
EDGE TO PCPN & DRY AIR MIXING DOWN IS EVEN CLRG CLDS ACRS
WESTERN SECTIONS.  WITH CATEGORICAL PCPN CVRG ENDING THIS
AFTERNOON...FEEL BNDRY SHOULD MAKE PROGRESS NORTH INTO AT
LEAST PART OF THE FA BY EARLY EVENING.

AS UPPER LOW CONTS TO MOVE EAST...WIND FIELDS THROUGHOUT ENTIRE
ATMOSPHERE WILL BE ON THE INCREASE OVER THE FA.  BEST CHC FOR
SVR THIS EVENING WILL BE ALG & SOUTH OF THIS BNDRY WHERE
INSTABILITY WILL BE GREATEST.  PREVIOUSLY RECOGNIZED THREAT
DURING THIS EVENING PERIOD STILL LOOKS ON TRACK.

COLD OR OCCLUDED FRT TO MOVE THRU EARLY SAT AM WITH SFC LOW
CONT TO DEEPEN IN THE COASTAL PLAIN...INCREASING GRADIENT.
SOME WRAP AROUND RH TO REMAIN IN THE MTNS & IN NC...OTHERWISE
PROGRESSIVE DRYING & BZY THRU THE DAY.

AVL  45/57/37/60  7200
CLT  54/65/42/65  6300
GSP  49/67/40/67  7100

CSH

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 3, 6:22 PM EST, 11 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-040515-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
622 PM EST FRI APR 3 1998

...A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM EST FOR THE
UPSTATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA EXCEPT CHEROKEE AND YORK COUNTIES...AND
FOR ALL OF EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA...

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT EST
FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA...WEST OF AND INCLUDING MECKLENBURG...
CABARRUS...ROWAN AND DAVIE COUNTIES...

A WARM FRONT LOCATED ACROSS GEORGIA WILL MOVE SLOWLY NORTHEAST
ACROSS THE WESTERN CAROLINAS TONIGHT...WHILE A COLD FRONT MOVES
EAST ACROSS ALABAMA AND INTO GEORGIA. WARM MOIST AIR BETWEEN THESE
FRONTS AND STRONG WINDS ALOFT WILL SUPPORT SEVERE WEATHER THIS
EVENING...WITH THE GREATEST POTENTIAL FOR TORNADOES OVER SOUTH
CAROLINA AND GEORGIA. DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL...FREQUENT
LIGHTNING...AND HEAVY RAIN ARE POSSIBLE IN THE WATCH AREAS.

A TORNADO WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES
AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
MEANS THAT CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TO
DEVELOP.

PEOPLE IN NORTHEAST GEORGIA AND THE WESTERN CAROLINAS SHOULD BE
READY TO MOVE TO SHELTER IF SEVERE WEATHER APPROACHES OR A WARNING
IS ISSUED. STAY TUNED TO LOCAL TV OR RADIO...CABLE TV...OR NOAA
WEATHER RADIO FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON THIS DANGEROUS WEATHER
SITUATION.

JAT

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 3, 6:17 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Graham	58 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.