Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2001
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 138, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Dec 17, 2001, 6:24 PM EST for Laurens County, South Carolina. It was in force for 51 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
- Dec 17, 2001, 6:24 PM EST (23:24 UTC)
- Expired
- Dec 17, 2001, 7:15 PM EST
- In force
- 51 min
- Issued by
- NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
- Area
- Whole counties
County Laurens County, SC
The radar
The Greer radar (KGSP), 49 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:27 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 17, 6:30 PM EST | Thunderstorm Wind 50 E | Gray Court, SC | 3 trees were blown down across roads. Trees also reported down in other parts of the county. |
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
Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 256 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 18 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -45 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 706 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 39 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 157 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 199 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
360 WUUS52 KGSP 172325 SVRGSP SCC059-180015- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 624 PM EST MON DEC 17 2001 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... LAURENS COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 715 PM EST * AT 624 PM EST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH DAMAGING WINDS FROM 12 MILES NORTHWEST OF LAURENS TO 9 MILES NORTHWEST OF GREENWOOD...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 60 MPH. * SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE NEAR... GRAY COURT AT 635 PM EST. LAURENS AT 640 PM EST. CLINTON AT 650 PM EST. JOANNA AT 700 PM EST. 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. $$ 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 Dec 17, 3:00 PM EST, 3 hours 24 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Dec 17, 3:00 PM EST, 3 hours 24 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 300 PM EST MON DEC 17 2001 AREA OF RAIN MOVING INTO WRN MOUNTAINS OF NC IS OF PRIMARY CONCERN. MODELS ARE CONSISTENT WITH BRINGING THE MAIN FORCING FOR PRECIP ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA THIS EVENING AND MAKING A QUICK EXIT BY 06Z TUESDAY. SEE NO REASON TO DISPUTE THIS WITH THE BACK EDGE OF THE PRECIP ALONG THE COLD FRONT OVER MIDDLE TN AS OF 20Z. WILL GO WITH AN 80 PERCENT RAIN CHANCE ACROSS ALL ZONES EVEN THOUGH THE BACK EDGE OF THE RAIN WILL BE WORKING INTO THE WESTERN ZONES AT 6 PM. WORDING WILL BE MAINLY BEFORE MIDNIGHT IN MOST AREAS EXCEPT FOR THE EASTERN ZONES. WILL KEEP THE WIND ADVISORY GOING UNTIL THE FRONT ARRIVES IN THE MID EVENING SINCE THE POTENTIAL STILL EXISTS FOR CONVECTIVE ELEMENTS TO BRING SOME HIGHER WIND GUSTS DOWN TO RIDGETOP LEVEL. SHORT WAVE SHOULD MOVE RAPIDLY OFF THE E COAST TUESDAY MORNING. EXPECT LINGERING SHOWERS OVER THE NORTHERN NC MOUNTAINS IN THE MORNING AS WRAPAROUND LOW LEVEL MOISTURE IS FORCED UP THE WESTERN SLOPES...OTHERWISE A GRADUAL CLEARING ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS. ACROSS THE FOOTHILLS AND PIEDMONT...CLEARING WILL BE MORE PRONOUNCED AND RAPID BY THE MIDDLE PART OF THE DAY AS A STRONG DOWNSLOPE WIND DEVELOPS. THE DOWNSLOPE WIND SHOULD COUNTER THE COLD ADVECTION AT LOW LEVELS. WILL STICK CLOSE TO NUMERICAL GUIDANCE. UPPER RIDGING WILL MOVE ACROSS THE WESTERN CAROLINAS FOR THE REMAINDER OF TUESDAY AND MOST OF WEDNESDAY. THIS SHOULD SPELL FAIR WEATHER ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA AND GUIDANCE IS GENERALLY ACCEPTED. THE ETA AND AVN ARE CONSISTENT BRING A SHORT WAVE ACROSS THE WESTERN CAROLINAS ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT. AT THIS TIME...IT APPEARS THAT THE EFFECT ON OUR WEATHER WILL BE MINIMAL AS THIS UPPER SYSTEM WILL REMAIN CUT OFF FROM GULF AND ATLANTIC MOISTURE. QUIET AND SEASONABLY COOL WEATHER WILL DOMINATE DAYS 3-5 AS A DRY NORTHWEST FLOW ON THURSDAY GIVES WAY TO HIGH PRESSURE SETTLING OVER THE REGION FOR FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. EXTENDED RANGE MODELS INDICATE SOME INCREASING HIGH LVL RH SATURDAY NIGHT...FOLLOWED BY A DEEPENING RETURN FLOW ON SUNDAY OUT AHEAD OF STRONG S/WV MOVING ACROSS THE PLAINS. BEST COMBINATION OF DEEP MOISTURE & LIFT LOOKS TO BE SUN NITE INTO MONDAY & FOR NOW...WILL CONFINE SHOWER MENTION TO DAY 7. FCSTID = 10 GSP 45 62 33 60 / 80 0 0 0 AND 46 63 33 61 / 80 0 0 0 CLT 50 63 33 60 / 80 0 0 0 HKY 45 60 31 57 / 80 0 0 0 AVL 43 56 30 56 / 80 10 0 0 .GSP... GA...WIND ADVISORY FOR THIS EVENING FOR ZONE GAZ010. NC...WIND ADVISORY FOR THIS EVENING FOR ZONES NCZ033...NCZ048>053...NCZ058>059...NCZ062>065. SC...NONE. MOORE/55
The office that day
Everything else NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 17, 6:44 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Spartanburg | 31 min |
| Dec 17, 6:50 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Greenwood | 40 min |
| Dec 17, 6:55 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Union | 50 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 2001Every 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.