Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 246, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

August 15, 2002Catawba County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 15, 2002, 5:55 PM EDT for Catawba County, North Carolina. It was in force for 35 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 15, 2002, 5:55 PM EDT (21:55 UTC)
Expired
Aug 15, 2002, 6:30 PM EDT
In force
35 min
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Catawba County, NC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 126 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:55 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 127 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 2002-08-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1140 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 2002-08-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 33 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1140 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-22 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
552 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
33 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
13 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.

864 
WUUS52 KGSP 152155
SVRGSP
NCC035-152230-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
555 PM EDT THU AUG 15 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 630 PM EDT

* AT 555 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 6 MILES NORTHEAST OF NEWTON...OR ABOUT OVER
  CLAREMONT...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL REMAIN IN RURAL AREAS OF

  NORTHERN CATAWBA COUNTY

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.

$$
07

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 15, 2:55 PM EDT, 3 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 15, 2:55 PM EDT, 3 hours before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
255 PM EDT THU AUG 15 2002

GULF MOISTURE REMAINS OVER SE U.S. WITH A VERY WEAK SHORTWAVE TROF
INDICATED ALOFT. AFTERNOON HEATING AND WEAK UPSLOPE FLOW OVER
MOUNTAINS ARE HELPING GET THINGS GOING. EXPECT SCT SHOWERS TSTMS TO
CONTINUE THRU THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT.

A WEAK FRONTAL BOUNDARY IS FORECAST TO PUSH THROUGH THE AREA SUNDAY
NIGHT THEN WASH OUT TO THE SOUTH. TEMPS WILL NOT BE AFFECTED MUCH
THIS FAR S BUT A CHANCE OF RAIN HAS BEEN ADDED THRU SUNDAY
NIGHT...WITH DRYER COND FORECAST AS UPPER RIDGE AND SFC HIGH
PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER THE AREA MON THRU THU.

FCSTID =   77
GSP   71  87  70  90 /  40  50  40  30
AND   71  87  70  91 /  40  50  40  30
CLT   72  89  71  91 /  40  50  40  30
HKY   70  86  70  89 /  40  50  40  30
AVL   66  83  66  84 /  40  60  50  30

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

RB/LGL

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.