Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2000

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 46, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

May 20, 2000Buncombe County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 20, 2000, 3:46 PM EDT for Buncombe County, North Carolina. It was in force for 29 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 20, 2000, 3:46 PM EDT (19:46 UTC)
Expired
May 20, 2000, 4:15 PM EDT
In force
29 min
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Buncombe County, NC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:05 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 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 308 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 12:00Z on 2000-05-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 143 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 12:00Z on 2000-05-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 34 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
143 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-91 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
905 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
34 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
3 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

445 
WUUS52 KGSP 201947
SVRGSP
NCC021-202015-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
346 PM EDT SAT MAY 20 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN BUNCOMBE COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 415 PM EDT

* AT 346 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS 6 MILES SOUTHWEST
  OF ASHEVILLE...OR ABOUT 6 MILES WEST OF BILTMORE FOREST...MOVING
  EAST AT 50 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  SKYLAND AT 355 PM EDT
  BLACK MOUNTAIN AT 410 PM EDT
  
PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM SHOULD BE ALERT FOR 
LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND LOCALLY HEAVY 
RAIN CAN OCCUR WITH ANY THUNDERSTORM.

$$
HG

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 20, 2:35 PM EDT, 1 hour 11 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 20, 2:35 PM EDT, 1 hour 11 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
235 PM EDT SAT MAY 20 2000

GREATER COVERAGE OF RADAR ECHOES SHOWING UP OVER WESTERN APPALACHIANS
JUST AHEAD OF FRONT. THIS AREA ALSO FORCED BY WEAK UPPER DIVERGENCE
OF JET IN OH VALLEY. WITH LAPS CAPES 2000+ AND MID LEVEL CAP
SLOWLY ERODING...COVERAGE AND INTENSITY SHOULD GROW OVER MTNS
THROUGH EVENING. PROFILES STILL LOOK SOMEWHAT MARGINAL FOR SEVERE
WITH EQUIVALENT POTENTIAL TEMP LAPSES SHOWING 35+ KT GUST
POTENTIAL AND 10K FT WET BULB ZERO SUGGESTING THAT AT LEAST SMALL
HAIL WILL BE PRESENT WITH THESE STORMS.

MUCH BETTER COVERAGE IS EXPECTED WITH THE SHORTWAVE THAT WILL
SWEEP QUICKLY INTO THE AREA FROM THE SW TONIGHT CIRCA 06Z. THIS WILL
BE COINCIDENT WITH THE BEST LOW LEVEL MOIST FLUX COVERGENCE AHEAD OF
THE FRONT AND STRONG DIVERGENCE IN THE RIGHT ENTRANCE REGION OF THE
JET. STRONGLY POSITIVE AREA ABOVE THE LFC WILL PERSIST...SO WITH SUCH
DEEP LAYER LIFT THE DIURNALLY UNFAVORABLE TIME SHOULD NOT BE A STRONG
LIMITING FACTOR FOR COVERAGE AND PSBL SEVERE. WILL BEEF UP WORDING
A BIT.

SFC LOW LINGERS OVER NC PIEDMONT THROUGH SUN NIGHT WHILE WEAK UPPER
ENERGY ASSOC WITH DPVA IN ERN TROF CONT TO AFFECT THE AREA. WILL
NEED CHC POPS THROUGH REMAINDER OF SHORT TERM WITH BEST CHC
PIEDMONT SECTIONS WHERE LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE PERSISTS.

WILL KEEP EXTENDED DRY AS FLOW BECOMES INCREASINGLY ZONAL. ANY
MOISTURE WILL BE EMBEDDED IN AN UNFAVORABLE W TO NW FLOW.

AVL 57/76/56/76 7333
CLT 67/85/63/81 7443
GSP 65/85/60/80 7333

.GSP...NONE.

HG

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 20, 10:53 AM EDT, 4 hours 53 minutes before
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-202235-
SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1053 AM EDT SAT MAY 20 2000

...SLIGHT CHANCE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING
ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS AND THE NORTH CAROLINA FOOTHILLS...

DEEPENING MOISTURE...AN APPROACHING FRONTAL BOUNDARY... AND DRIER AIR
IN THE MID LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE... WILL COMBINE TO CREATE
SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS
EVENING ACROSS THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA. WITH
TEMPERATURES EXPECTED TO REACH THE 80S TO LOWER 90S... THE ATMOSPHERE
WILL GET UNSTABLE ENOUGH FOR ANY THUNDERSTORM TO BECOME STRONG... OR
EVEN SEVERE.

AREAS WITH THE GREATEST CHANCE OF SEEING SEVERE WEATHER INCLUDE THE
MOUNTAINS OF THE CAROLINAS AND GEORGIA... AND THE ADJACENT NORTH
CAROLINA FOOTHILLS. THE REMAINDER OF THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND
NORTHEAST GEORGIA COULD SEE THUNDERSTORMS BECOME QUITE STRONG... BUT
PERHAPS FALLING JUST SHORT OF SEVERE LEVELS.

THE MOST LIKELY SEVERE WEATHER OCCURRING TODAY WILL BE LARGE HAIL...
AS DRIER AND SOMEWHAT COOLER AIR ALOFT MOVES OVER THE REGION. THERE
COULD ALSO BE ISOLATED WIND REPORTS OF MORE THAN 60 MPH... BUT WIND
PROFILES EARLY TODAY WOULD NOT SUPPORT WIDESPREAD WIND DAMAGE.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...LOCAL RADIO AND TELEVISION OR
CABLE TELEVISION FOR THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION.

BURRUS

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 20, 3:40 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPYancey35 min
May 20, 4:18 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPMcDowell42 min
May 20, 5:11 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPBurke49 min
May 20, 5:18 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPAlexander, Catawba42 min
May 20, 5:48 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPIredell42 min
May 20, 6:03 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPDavie57 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 2000Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2000

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.