Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

August 20, 1999Polk County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this tornado warning at Aug 20, 1999, 4:15 PM EDT for Polk County, North Carolina. It was in force for 60 min. 1 report 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: Aug 20, 1999, 4:15 PM EDT (20:15 UTC)
Expired: Aug 20, 1999, 5:15 PM EDT
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Polk County, NC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 44 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:18 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	Remark
Aug 20, 4:41 PM EDT	Hail 1.75	Columbus, NC

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, 8.3 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1281 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -374 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -309 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 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 Aug 20, 1:55 PM EDT, 2 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 20, 1:55 PM EDT, 2 hours 20 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
155 PM EDT FRI AUG 20 1999

FRONT STILL HANGING ON TO MOUNTAINS BUT AS MAIN VORT MAX ROTATES
AROUND BASE OF TROUGH AND LIFTS OUT...SHOULD BEGIN TO SEE DRIER AIR
PUSH INTO FA.  IN THE SHORT TERM...WILL SEE ISOLATED SHOWERS POP UP
OVER HIGH COUNTRY WHERE HEATING CONTINUES TO DESTABILIZE AIR MASS.
THESE SHUOULD DIE BY SUNDOWN.  BOUNDARY LAYER WILL REMAIN FAIRLY
MOIST WITH DEWPOINTS STAYING IN THE MID 60S ACROSS LOWLANDS BUT
DEPTH OF MOISTURE IS SMALL AND LIFT IS VIRTUALLY NONEXISTENT AFTER
00Z.  SEE NO REASON TO CARRY POPS ANYWHERE BUT MIGHT MENTION
ISOLATED IN SELECT GROUPINGS AFTER REVIEWING RADAR/SATELLITE PRIOR
TO PRESS TIME.

ONE CONCERN FOR TONIGHT:  FRONT SLOWS AS IT MOVES PAST FA WITH MAIN
PUSH REMAINING WELL NORTH OF CAROLINAS.  ETA DEVELOPS WAVE ON FRONT
IN GA...BRINGING AN UPSLOPE SELY FLOW INTO UPSTATE AND SOUTHERN
MOUNTAINS.  COULD SEE CLOUDS TONIGHT THAT MIGHT STICK AROUND INTO
MIDMORNING.  FOR NOW WILL FOREGO THIS BUT WILL KEEP PARTLY CLOUDY
MENTIONED.  WILL MENTION FOG AS WELL MOST ZONES.

TEMPERATURES WILL BE COOLER WITH READINGS NOT LIKELY TO REACH 90 FOR
THE FIRST TIME IN OVER A MONTH AT MANY LOCATIONS.  BOTH GUIDANCE
SETS CLOSE AND WILL NOT QUIBBLE OVER A DEGREE OR TWO.       DELGADO

AVL 063/082/057/083 000
CLT 068/087/065/088 100
GSP 068/088/064/088 000

.GSP...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 20, 12:56 PM EDT, 3 hours 19 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
1256 PM EDT FRI AUG 20 1999

TIME (EDT) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

300 AM                               NC   WIND DAMAGE
08/20/99   AVERY                          TWO TREES DOWN IN SOUTHERN
                                          SECTION OF COUNTY. ONE OF
                                          THE TREES FELL ON POWER
                                          LINES. FROM EMA.

RWH

Local storm report, Aug 20, 3:32 PM EDT, 43 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
332 PM EDT FRI AUG 20 1999

TIME (EDT) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

325 PM     1 MILE NE WAHALLA         SC   1.00 INCH HAIL
08/20/99   OCONEE                         SHERIFF

PAT

Local storm report, Aug 20, 3:32 PM EDT, 43 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
332 PM EDT FRI AUG 20 1999

TIME (EDT) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

325 PM     1 MILE NE WAHALLA         SC   1.00 INCH HAIL
08/20/99   OCONEE                         SHERIFF

PAT

Local storm report, Aug 20, 4:09 PM EDT, 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
409 PM EDT FRI AUG 20 1999

TIME (EDT) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

408 PM     GERTON                    NC   1.75 INCH HAIL
08/20/99   HENDERSON

BPM

Local storm report, Aug 20, 4:09 PM EDT, 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
409 PM EDT FRI AUG 20 1999

TIME (EDT) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

408 PM     GERTON                    NC   1.75 INCH HAIL
08/20/99   HENDERSON

BPM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 20, 1:49 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Yancey	46 min
Aug 20, 2:12 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Mitchell	48 min
Aug 20, 2:42 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Avery, Burke, McDowell	43 min
Aug 20, 3:12 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Caldwell	43 min
Aug 20, 3:25 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Burke	45 min
Aug 20, 3:51 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Buncombe, Henderson	34 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1999 Every tornado warning in 1999 Tornadoes in 1999

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.