Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 95, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

May 17, 1998Anderson County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 17, 1998, 10:44 PM EDT for Anderson County, South Carolina. It was in force for 66 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
May 17, 1998, 10:44 PM EDT (02:44 UTC)
Expired
May 17, 1998, 11:50 PM EDT
In force
66 min
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Anderson County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 56 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:48 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 00:00Z, 2.7 hours before the alert went out and 214 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 00:00Z on 1998-05-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 343 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 00:00Z on 1998-05-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 13 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
343 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-94 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1866 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
13 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
9 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.0
Supercell composite
-0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

460 
WUUS1 KGSP 180245 RRA
SVRGSP
SCC007-180350-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1044 PM EDT SUN MAY 17 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  ANDERSON COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 1150 PM EDT

* AT 1044 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES NORTHEAST OF ANDERSON...MOVING SOUTHWEST AT
  10 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  ANDERSON AT 1055 PM
  STARR AT 1105 PM

ALTHOUGH LARGE HAIL IS THE BIGGEST THREAT WITH THIS SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM...BRIEF DAMAGING WINDS COULD ALSO OCCUR.

RWH

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 May 17, 8:36 PM EDT, 2 hours 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 17, 8:36 PM EDT, 2 hours 8 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
836 PM EDT SUN MAY 17 1998

CAE/FFC: WILL PROB NEED TO CONT ISOLD TSRA A LITTLE LONGER. LOWS PROB A
LITTLE LOW ESP SRN SECTIONS.

SFC FNT HAS MOVED THRU THE CWA BUT HAS STALLED. MOISTURE POOLING ACROSS
UPSTATE AND NE GA. DEW POINTS STILL IN THE UPPER 60S TO AROUND 70. HAVE
REACHED 70 HERE AT GSP JUST NOW. BIG MOISTURE GRADIENT AS LOWER 60 DEW
POINTS JUST ACROSS BORDER IN NC. UPR WAVE NOTED ON WV LOOP HAS HAS FIRED
SCT STRONG TSRA ACROSS NE GA AND ISOLATED STRONG TSRA IN UPSTATE. CELL
OVR PICKENS CO SC HAS WEAKENED BUT LOOKING OUTSIDE LOTS OF TCU TO EITHER
SIDE OF CELL. 00Z FFC/GSO RAOBS STILL UNSTABLE. LACK OF MOISTURE WILL
PROBABLY PRECLUDE TSRA FORMATION IN NC BUT WILL CONTINUE A WHILE LONGER
IN NE GA/UPSTATE UNTIL MOISTURE DECREASES OR WAVE PASSES.

SKY CONDITIONS TOO OPTIMISTIC IN GA AS ARE TEMPS. UNLESS SIGNIFICANT
DRYING TAKES PLACE LOWS ARE TOO LOW THERE. MAY BE TOO LOW UPSTATE AS
WELL FOR SAME REASONS. TEMPS LOOK GOOD IN NC WITH LOWER DEW POINTS
THERE.

RWH

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 1998Every 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.