Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 244, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

August 2, 2002Laurens County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 2, 2002, 5:27 PM EDT for Laurens County, South Carolina. It was in force for 48 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, 5:27 PM EDT (21:27 UTC)
Expired: Aug 2, 2002, 6:15 PM EDT
In force: 48 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 21:26 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, 5:30 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50 E	Hickory Tavern, SC	A couple of trees were blown down.
Aug 2, 5:30 PM EDT	Hail 0.88	Hickory Tavern, SC
Aug 2, 5:35 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50 E	Laurens, SC	The tops were blown out of several large trees.

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, 9.5 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.

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: 1436 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 769 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 4 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 10 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.

579 
WUUS52 KGSP 022127
SVRGSP
SCC059-022215-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
527 PM EDT FRI AUG 2 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 615 PM EDT

* AT 527 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS 4 MILES SOUTHWEST
  OF LAURENS...MOVING SOUTHWEST AT 10 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  HICKORY TAVERN AT 540 PM EDT.
  WATERLOO AT 545 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/SAB

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, 2 hours 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 2, 3:04 PM EDT, 2 hours 23 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, 3:54 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	York	51 min
Aug 2, 4:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Union	42 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.