Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 199, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

July 3, 2002Abbeville County, Greenwood County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 3, 2002, 6:57 PM EDT for Abbeville County, Greenwood County, South Carolina. It was in force for 63 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: Jul 3, 2002, 6:57 PM EDT (22:57 UTC)
Expired: Jul 3, 2002, 8:00 PM EDT
In force: 63 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

Counties Abbeville County, SC, Greenwood County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:59 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
Jul 3, 7:02 PM EDT	Hail 0.88	Donalds, SC
Jul 3, 7:05 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50 E	Ware Shoals, SC	Several trees were blown down.

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, 11.0 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: 204 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -163 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 947 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 3 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 37 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.

000 
WUUS52 KGSP 032257
SVRGSP
SCC001-047-040000-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
656 PM EDT WED JUL 3 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN ABBEVILLE COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA
  NORTHERN GREENWOOD COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 800 PM EDT

* AT 656 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS 12 MILES NORTHEAST
  OF ABBEVILLE...OR ABOUT 4 MILES NORTHWEST OF HODGES...MOVING NORTH
  AT 5 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  DUE WEST AT 710 PM EDT.
  WARE SHOALS AT 720 PM EDT.
  DONALDS AT 735 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.

$$

RWH

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 Jul 3, 3:45 PM EDT, 3 hours 12 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 3, 3:45 PM EDT, 3 hours 12 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
345 PM EDT WED JUL 3 2002

WATCH BOX IS FILLING IN NICELY WITH CONVECTION ATTM. WENT CAT POPS
MTNS...LIKELY FOOTHILLS AND CHANCE IN THE PIEDMONT FOR THIS EVENING.
CONVECTION IS DEVELOPING IN AN AREA OF LLVL MOISTURE CONVERGENCE
WHICH EXTENDS FROM CENTRAL VA SW TO THE UPSTATE. THIS IS IN RESPONSE
TO UPPER LOW OVER EASTERN NC WHICH HAS HELPED TO SHARPEN SFC TROF
OVER THE REGION.

SUSPECT THAT CONVECTION OVER VA WL CONTINUE TO FILL IN ALONG THE LEE
TROF AND EVENTUALLY START MOVING MORE RAPIDLY TO THE SW AS H5 WINDS
INCREASE AT LITTLE BY 00 UTC. EVEN IF THE MCS SCENARIO DOES NOT PAN
OUT...CONVECTION FIRED FOR SEVERAL HOURS LAST NGHT ON OUTFLOW
BNDRYS...AND EXPECT SIMILAR BEHAVIOR TNGT.

JULY 4TH REALLY DOESN/T LOOK MUCH DIFFERENT FROM TDA. WL START W/40
POPS IN THE MTNS AND THE FOOTHILLS AND 30S FARTHER EAST...BUT
WOULDN/T BE SURPRISED IF WE HAVE TO UP THE POPS AGAIN IN THE AFTN.

ON FRI SFC FRONT WL FALL ACROSS THE NRN HALF OF THE CWA. UPPER
SUPPORT IS STILL WEAK...AND WE ARE UNDER NVA UNTIL THE EARLY
EVENING...BUT MOISTURE POOLING ALONG THE FRONT SHOULD BE SUFFICIENT
FOR MORE SCT TSRA.

EXTENDED...
SUN...AVN KEEPS SFC BOUNDARY WITHIN THE CWA WITH SUBZERO LIS AND
HOT AND HUMID AIRMASS IN PLACE. BELIEVE THAT THERE WILL BE SOME TS
IN THE CWA BUT QUESTION REMAINS ABOUT FRONTAL PLACEMENT AS AVN IS
CHANGING WITH EACH RUN. HEIGHTS FALL ON MON BRINGING SOME UPPER
SUPPORT AND WILL INTRODUCE CHC POPS FOR CONVECTION. TUES FROPA
BEGINS TO TAKE PLACE WITH AVN BACKING OFF OF CAA IT WAS ADVERTISING
ON THE 02.00Z RUN. FRONT HAS A HARD TIME MOVING SOUTH AND IS STILL
IN THE AREA WED AND WILL EXTEND POPS INTO WEDS. LITTLE CHANGE IN
TEMPS WILL TREND WED TEMPS DOWN A CLICK FROM TUES VALUES.

FCSTID =
GSP   70  93  70  93 /  50  30  30  30
AND   70  93  70  93 /  40  30  30  30
CLT   67  93  68  93 /  50  30  30  40
HKY   68  91  69  92 /  60  30  30  40
AVL   66  87  66  89 /  80  40  40  40

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

MCAVOY/NED

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 3, 6:10 PM EDT, 47 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
610 PM EDT WED JUL 03 2002

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

552 PM     WILLIAMSTON               SC   WIND DAMAGE
07/03/02   ANDERSON                       NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER
                                          LINES DOWN IN THE CITY OF
                                          WILLIAMSTON. REPORT FROM
                                          ANDERSON COUNTY 911.

607 PM     12 NE CHARLOTTE           NC   .75 INCH HAIL
07/03/02   MECKLENBURG                    SKYWARN SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          DIME-SIZED HAIL 5 MILES
                                          NORTHEAST OF NEWELL.

BURRUS

Local storm report, Jul 3, 6:26 PM EDT, 31 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
626 PM EDT WED JUL 03 2002

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

556 PM     CHARLOTTE                 NC   WIND DAMAGE
07/03/02   MECKLENBURG                    1 TREE ON CAR ON HWY 49.
                                          STOPLIGHTS FACING WRONG
                                          WAY AND SIGNS TWISTED AT
                                          49 AND BACK CREEK CH. RD.
                                          REPORTED BY MECKLENBURG
                                          EOC.

LAMB

Local storm report, Jul 3, 6:35 PM EDT, 22 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
635 PM EDT WED JUL 03 2002

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

555 PM     10 NE LAURENS             SC   WIND DAMAGE
07/03/02   LAURENS                        SKYWARN SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          NUMEROUS TREES DOWN ON
                                          FLEMMING MILL ROAD.
                                          ALSO...NUMEROUS TRAFFIC
                                          SIGNALS OUT IN THE CITY
                                          OF LAURENS.

BURRUS

Local storm report, Jul 3, 6:39 PM EDT, 18 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
639 PM EDT WED JUL 03 2002

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

625 PM     MECKLENBURG               SC   .75 INCH HAIL
07/03/02   MECKLENBURG                    REPORTED BY SKYWARN
                                          SPOTTER.

MCAVOY

Local storm report, Jul 3, 6:43 PM EDT, 14 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
643 PM EDT WED JUL 03 2002

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

620 PM     8 N SHELBY                NC   WIND DAMAGE
07/03/02   CLEVELAND                      SPOTTER REPORTS NUMEROUS
                                          TREES DOWN

DEO

Local storm report, Jul 3, 6:49 PM EDT, 8 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
649 PM EDT WED JUL 03 2002

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

647 PM     FOUNTAIN INN              SC   .75 INCH HAIL
07/03/02   GREENVILLE                     DIME HAIL REPORTED BY
                                          SKYWARN SPOTTER.

LAMB

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 3, 4:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Chester, York	63 min
Jul 3, 5:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Laurens	53 min
Jul 3, 5:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Union	66 min
Jul 3, 5:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Spartanburg	55 min
Jul 3, 5:57 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Anderson	63 min
Jul 3, 6:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Greenville	63 min
Jul 3, 6:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Spartanburg	61 min
Jul 3, 7:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Anderson	60 min
Jul 3, 7:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Laurens	56 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 2002 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2002

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.