Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 242, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 2, 2002, 3:54 PM EDT for York County, South Carolina; Gaston County, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. It was in force for 51 min. 3 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 2, 2002, 3:54 PM EDT (19:54 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 2, 2002, 4:45 PM EDT
- In force
- 51 min
- Issued by
- NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Gaston County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, York County, SC
The radar
The Greer radar (KGSP), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:56 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 2, 4:05 PM EDT | Hail 1.5 | Gastonia, NC | |
| Aug 2, 4:05 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 50 E | Gastonia, NC | Some trees and powerlines were blown down. A house was heavily damaged when a tree fell on it. |
| Aug 2, 4:20 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 50 E | Belmont, NC | Some trees and large limbs 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
Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 146 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
- 1645 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -35 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1274 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 9 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -7 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 22 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
001 WUUS52 KGSP 021954 SVRGSP NCC071-119-SCC091-022045- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 354 PM EDT FRI AUG 2 2002 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... WESTERN MECKLENBURG COUNTY IN THE PIEDMONT OF NORTH CAROLINA SOUTHERN GASTON COUNTY IN THE PIEDMONT OF NORTH CAROLINA NORTHERN YORK COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 445 PM EDT * AT 354 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS 9 MILES WEST OF CHARLOTTE...OR ABOUT 5 MILES SOUTHEAST OF BELMONT...MOVING WEST AT 5 MPH. * THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR... BELMONT AT 405 PM EDT. CRAMERTON AT 415 PM EDT. LAKE WYLIE AT 420 PM EDT. LOWELL AT 425 PM EDT. RANLO AT 435 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 Aug 2, 3:04 PM EDT, 50 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 2, 3:04 PM EDT, 50 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 304 PM EDT FRI AUG 2 2002 SCT CONVECTION ONGOING ATTM. BEST COVERAGE OVER MTNS...BUT WILL EXPAND OVER THE SOUTHERN SECTIONS. SOME OF THE CELLS ARE STRONG AND CANNOT RULE OUT AN ISOLATED SEVERE STORM THIS EVENING. POP IN THE ZONES WILL BE HIER THAN CCF POP BELOW...BUT STILL SCT. AFTER THIS EVENING MOISTURE DECREASES OVER THE AREA. THETA-E VALUES DECREASE SIGNIFICANTLY. EVEN WITH CONTINUED COOL MID LEVEL TEMPS ATMOS REMAINS STABLE SATURDAY. MOISTURE GREATER TO OUR NORTH SO FOR NOW WILL CONTINUE WITH NO PRECIP. SUNDAY COULD BE INTERESTING. AVN LONE MDL INDICATING TREMENDOUS MOISTURE AND LIFT INCREASE FROM THE SOUTH...SPREADING PRECIP ACROSS ALL CWFA. WILL HOLD OFF ON THAT SCENARIO FOR NOW...BUT WILL INCREASE CLOUDS OVER THE AREA AS ETA DOES SHOW UPSLOPE FLOW AND A LITTLE MOISTURE INCREASE. TEMPS SAT MAYBE A COUPLE OF DEGREES COOLER THAN TODAY. TRENDED A LITTLE COOLER SUNDAY WITH MORE CLOUDS...BUT NOT AS COOL AS THE MAV. GSP 70 93 68 88 / 20 10 10 20 AND 70 93 69 88 / 20 10 10 20 CLT 70 93 69 89 / 20 10 10 20 HKY 68 91 68 88 / 20 20 10 20 AVL 65 88 63 84 / 20 10 10 20 .GSP... GA...NONE. NC...NONE. SC...NONE. RWH
The office that day
Everything else NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2, 4:33 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Union | 42 min |
| Aug 2, 5:27 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Laurens | 48 min |
| Aug 2, 3:24 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Henderson | 51 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 2002Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 2002Every 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.