Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2001

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 124, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

August 31, 2001Greenville County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 31, 2001, 4:56 PM EDT for Greenville County, South Carolina. It was in force for 34 min. 2 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: Aug 31, 2001, 4:56 PM EDT (20:56 UTC)
Expired: Aug 31, 2001, 5:30 PM EDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Greenville County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 14 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:58 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 31, 5:13 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50 E	Greenville, SC	Numerous trees and power lines brought down in Greenville. Over 3000 homes were without power after the storm.
Aug 31, 5:25 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50 E	Simpsonville, SC	Large tree limbs blown down in Simpsonville.

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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 259 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: 873 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -29 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 779 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 45 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 81 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

329 
WUUS52 KGSP 312056
SVRGSP
SCC045-312130-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
456 PM EDT FRI AUG 31 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  GREENVILLE COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 530 PM EDT

* AT 456 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH DAMAGING WINDS FROM 6 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
  PICKENS TO 9 MILES NORTHEAST OF ANDERSON...MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE NEAR...
  PIEDMONT AT 500 PM EDT
  BEREA AT 505 PM EDT
  MAULDIN AT 510 PM EDT
  SIMPSONVILLE AT 515 PM EDT
  FOUNTAIN INN AT 520 PM EDT

THIS LINE OF STORMS WILL PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS OF 60 MPH AS IT 
MOVES INTO GREENVILLE COUNTY.

PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD BE
ALERT FOR LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND
LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN CAN OCCUR WITH ANY THUNDERSTORM.

$$

MOORE

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 Aug 31, 3:45 PM EDT, 1 hour 11 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 31, 3:45 PM EDT, 1 hour 11 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
345 PM EDT FRI AUG 31 2001

VORT MAX IN WSW FLOW PRESENTLY PUSHING CONVECTION ACROSS THE
AREA...WITH UPSTREAM STRONGER SHORTWAVE OVER ARKLATEX SCHEDULED TO
ARRIVE LATER TONIGHT COINCIDENT WITH INCREASING SUPPORT FROM THE
UPPER JET ENTRANCE REGION. TIME SECTIONS ARE SATURATED THROUGH THE
COLUMN...SO PRECIP SHOULD BE WIDESPREAD OVER MOUNTAINS WITH DECENT
COVERAGE EXTENDING INTO PIEDMONT.

MODELS STILL LACK AGREEMENT ON FRONTAL TIMING...BUT TREND IS TOWARD
SYSTEM STALLING ACROSS THE CAROLINAS BY SATURDAY NIGHT. DEEPENING
CUTOFF LOW OVER THE MS VALLEY BY SUN NIGHT SHOULD SEND RETURN FLOW
WITH MOISTURE BACK OVER THE BOUNDARY. SPECTRAL RUNS FROM LAST NIGHT
APPEARED TO HAVE THE BOUNDARY TOO FAR S BY SUNDAY WITH TOO MUCH DEEP
LAYER DRYING OVER THE CAROLINAS. LATEST RUNS ALONG WITH EXTENDED
ENSEMBLES POINTING TOWARD MUCH MORE PRECIP IN DYNAMICS AHEAD OF THE
DEVELOPING LOW FOR SUN NIGHT INTO MON. WILL KEEP THE EARLY EXTENDED
WETTER AND COOLER THAN MEX MOS.

FCSTID = 33
GSP   70  82  67  82 /  60  60  40  30
AND   70  82  67  82 /  60  60  40  30
CLT   70  82  64  81 /  60  50  30  20
HKY   68  78  62  78 /  60  50  30  20
AVL   65  77  62  78 /  80  60  40  30

.GSP...
GA...NONE.
NC...NONE.
SC...NONE.

HG

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 31, 4:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Oconee, Pickens	61 min
Aug 31, 4:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Anderson	36 min
Aug 31, 5:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Spartanburg	45 min
Aug 31, 5:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Laurens	29 min
Aug 31, 6:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Cherokee	25 min
Aug 31, 6:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Chester, Union, York	42 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 2001 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2001

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.