Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 232, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

July 22, 2002Cabarrus County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 22, 2002, 4:44 PM EDT for Cabarrus County, North Carolina. It was in force for 46 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 22, 2002, 4:44 PM EDT (20:44 UTC)
Expired: Jul 22, 2002, 5:30 PM EDT
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Cabarrus County, NC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 162 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:45 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 22, 4:45 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 65 E	Concord, NC	Numerous trees, some up to 2 feet in diameter were blown down. Some trees fell on homes and businesses. Some traffic lights were alos blown out.
Jul 22, 5:10 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Concord, 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, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 97 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: 1105 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -40 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1028 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -8 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.

737 
WUUS52 KGSP 222044
SVRGSP
NCC025-222130-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
444 PM EDT MON JUL 22 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  CABARRUS COUNTY IN THE PIEDMONT OF NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 530 PM EDT

* AT 444 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS 4 MILES EAST OF
  CONCORD...MOVING NORTHWEST AT 15 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  CONCORD AT 455 PM EDT.
  KANNAPOLIS AT 510 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.

$$

JONES/HANDEL

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 22, 2:18 PM EDT, 2 hours 26 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 22, 2:18 PM EDT, 2 hours 26 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
218 PM EDT MON JUL 22 2002

COLD FRONT APPROACHING FROM NORTHWEST TUE NIGHT PROGGED TO HANG UP
IN NC MTS FOR SEVERAL DAYS THEN FIZZLING BY SATURDAY. LOW LEVEL
MOISTURE INCREASES TUE AND WED COINCIDING WITH APPROACHING
FRONT...PERSISTING THRU SATURDAY. VORTICITY INCREASES TUE...THEN A
STRONG VORT MAX OVER CWA BY WED EVE. MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT FOR
SCATTERED SHWRS AND STORMS EVERY AFTN AND EVE THRU SAT. SILENT 20S
FOR SUN AND MON WITH ONLY MARGINAL INSTABILITY AND MOISTURE.

SLIGHT WARMING TREND THROUGH THE WEEK DUE TO DECREASING CLOUD COVER
AS FRONT DISSIPATES. LOWER 90S MOST PIEDMONT AND FOOTHILL LOCATIONS
BY END OF THE WEEK.
FCSTID =
GSP   71  90  72  87 /  40  50  50  50
AND   71  90  72  87 /  40  50  50  50
CLT   70  90  72  88 /  50  50  50  50
HKY   69  87  70  86 /  50  50  50  50
AVL   64  84  67  83 /  40  50  40  50

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

LAMB/DICARLO

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 22, 11:10 AM EDT, 5 hours 34 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-222100-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1110 AM EDT MON JUL 22 2002

...SEVERE WEATHER POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...

WARM MOIST AIR OVER THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA WILL
SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON.
THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL PERSIST INTO THE EVENING. CONDITIONS ARE
FAVORABLE FOR A FEW OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS TO BECOME SEVERE...
PRODUCING DAMAGING WIND. LARGE HAIL IS POSSIBLE...BUT TO A LESSER
EXTENT. THE GREATEST CHANCE OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE IN NORTHEAST
GEORGIA AND UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR FAVORITE MEDIA OUTLET FOR
THE LATEST UPDATES CONCERNING THIS POTENTIAL SEVERE WEATHER
SITUATION.

RWH

Local storm report, Jul 22, 4:17 PM EDT, 27 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
417 PM EDT MON JUL 22 2002

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

335 PM     2 W CHEROKEE              NC   .75 INCH HAIL
07/22/02   SWAIN                          DISPATCH RELAYED REPORT
                                          OF LARGE HAIL JUST ACROSS
                                          THE MOUNTAIN FROM
                                          CHEROKEE

JONES

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 22, 3:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Swain	64 min
Jul 22, 5:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Union	46 min
Jul 22, 7:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Cleveland, Rutherford	44 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North 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.