Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 48, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

June 6, 1998Spartanburg County, Union County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this tornado warning at Jun 6, 1998, 4:38 PM EDT for Spartanburg County, Union County, South Carolina. It was in force for 32 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 6, 1998, 4:38 PM EDT (20:38 UTC)
Expired: Jun 6, 1998, 5:10 PM EDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

Counties Spartanburg County, SC, Union County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 39 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:39 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 6, 5:00 PM EDT	Tornado F0	Pacolet Mills, SC
Jun 6, 5:00 PM EDT	Hail 1.75	Pacolet Mills, SC
Jun 6, 5:05 PM EDT	Hail 1.75	Jonesville, SC
Jun 6, 5:10 PM EDT	Tornado F1	Carlisle, SC
Jun 6, 5:10 PM EDT	Hail 2.75	Carlisle, 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 nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 223 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: 59 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -204 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 638 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 59 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 55 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

133 
WFUS1 KGSP 062039 RRA
TORGSP
SCC083-087-062115-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
438 PM EDT SAT JUN 6 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN SPARTANBURG COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA
  UNION COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 510 PM EDT

* AT 437 PM... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A
  DEVELOPING TORNADO JUST EAST OF PACOLET...10 MILES EAST
  OF SPARTANBURG...MOVING EAST-SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...

  PACOLET MILLS 455 PM

PEOPLE IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM SHOULD TAKE ACTION NOW
TO PROTECT THEIR LIVES.  GO TO YOUR BASEMENT...THE CENTER OF
BUILDINGS...COVER YOUR HEAD.  DO NOT GO NEAR DOORS AND WINDOWS. GET
OUT OF MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES AND GO TO A STURDY BUILDING OR A
DITCH.

SAB

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado 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 tornado warning went out at Jun 6, 2:04 PM EDT, 2 hours 34 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 6, 2:04 PM EDT, 2 hours 34 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
204 PM EDT SAT JUN 6 1998

CAE/FFC: ANY POPS NEEDED FOR REST OF DAY BASED ON WHAT DEVELOPS
          OVER NEXT FEW HOURS...OTHERWISE NO RECOMMENDATIONS.
RAH: ANY POPS FOR THE TONIGHT PERIOD WOULD BE BASED ON ANY
      REDEVELOPMENT ALONG & SOUTH OF FNT THRU EARLY EVENING.

FNT WILL CONT TO MAKE VRY SLOW PROGRESS ACRS THE REST OF THE FA
THIS AFTERNOON...BUT DOWNSLOPE MAS MANANGED TO CLEAR OUT A GOOD
CHUNK OF THE CWA.  EVEN THOUGH DEEPER RH WILL KEEP BEING DISPLACED
OFF TO THE EAST...RATHER HI DWPTS REMAIN & WILL HAVE TO MONITOR
ALONG & SOUTH OF FNT FOR ANY CONVECTION THRU EARLY EVENING.  FNT
SHOULD GET BEST PUSH TONIGHT AS STG S/WV ROTATES ACRS THRU SUNDAY
MORNING.  IN TURN...PROGRESSIVE DRYING THROUGHOUT REST OF ATMOSPHERIC
COLUMN SHOULD BE REALIZED.

NVA & DOWNSLOPE DEVELOPS BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON FOLLOWED BY SFC RIDGING
MOVING ACRS FA SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY.  ALL THIS ADDS UP TO QUITE
A PLEASANT SECOND HALF OF THE WEEKEND & START TO THE NEW WEEK.

AVL  53/71/48/73  0000
CLT  59/78/55/79  1000
GSP  55/78/52/79  0000

CSH

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 5, 8:24 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Cherokee	31 min
Jun 5, 8:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	York	32 min
Jun 6, 5:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Cherokee	44 min
Jun 6, 5:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Union	35 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Carolina, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.