Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 251, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

August 22, 2002Iredell County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 22, 2002, 5:11 PM EDT for Iredell County, North Carolina. It was in force for 49 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 22, 2002, 5:11 PM EDT (21:11 UTC)
Expired
Aug 22, 2002, 6:00 PM EDT
In force
49 min
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Iredell County, NC

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 146 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:13 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, 9.2 hours before the alert went out and 93 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 2002-08-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 996 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 2002-08-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 66 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
996 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-35 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
712 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
66 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
136 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.

866 
WUUS52 KGSP 222111
SVRGSP
NCC097-222200-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
509 PM EDT THU AUG 22 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 600 PM EDT

* AT 509 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM WITH DAMAGING WINDS 9 MILES SOUTHWEST OF   
YADKINVILLE...OR ABOUT 5 MILES NORTH OF HARMONY...MOVING SOUTH AT 
10   MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  UNION GROVE AT 515 PM EDT.
  HARMONY AT 530 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.

$$
MCAVOY/NED

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 22, 2:53 PM EDT, 2 hours 18 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 22, 2:53 PM EDT, 2 hours 18 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
253 PM EDT THU AUG 22 2002

DESPITE STG UPPER RIDGING AND VERY WARM TEMPS ALOFT...HIGH LLVL DWPTS
& WEAK SLY FLOW RESULTING IN ENOUGH INSTABILITY TO GENERATE ISOLATED
DEEP CONVECTION OVER THE NC MTNS & EVEN SOME SMALL SHOWERS ACRS THE
WRN UPSTATE/NE GA. AT THIS POINT...PLAN ON CONFINING ISOLATED EVENING
POP WORDING TO JUST NC MTNS AS ACTIVITY EAST OF THE NC MTNS MAY BE
TOO FEW AND FAR BETWEEN FOR A MENTION.

ON FRIDAY...UPPER RIDING GETS DISPLACED BUT WE WILL BE MAINTAINING
A WESTERLY LLVL FLOW AS WELL...LIKELY LIMITING DEEP CONVECTION EAST
OF THE MTNS...BUT SUPPORTING CHCS FOR SCATTERED ACTIVITY IN THE
HIGHER TERRAIN. ETA LLVL THICKNESS VALUES DO CREEP UP SOME AS WELL
BUT PREFER MAV/FWC FCSTS OF MID 90S ACRS MY PIEDMONT/FTHL ZONES.
SFC DWPTS THIS AFTERNOON STILL IN THE LOWER 70S & ALTHOUGH WILL
HAVE A BETTER CHC OF MIXING INTO U 60S ON FRIDAY...MAY SEE HEAT
INDEX VALUES IN LOWER 100S.

STRONGER WESTERLIES CONTINUE MOVING SWD ON SATURDAY MAINTAINING
A WESTERLY FLOW THRU A FAIRLY DEEP LAYER. COMBINATION OF APPROACHING
COLD FRONT & STRENGTHENING PRE-FRONTAL TROUGH WARRANTS A CONTINUATION
OF GOING CHC POPS CWFA WIDE. LLVL FLOW PROGGED TO VEER TO NORTHERLY
SAT NIGHT AS MAIN SYNOPTIC SCALE SFC BNDRY LINGERS NEAR COASTAL PLAIN
INTO SUNDAY.

HEADING INTO THE DAY 4-7 PERIOD...CONFIDENCE NOT HIGH WRT TO
TIMING AND STRENGTH OF SYNOPTIC SCALE FEATURES AFFECTING CWFA
ESPECIALLY WHEN LOOKING AT CHANGES PROGGED BY 12Z AVN IN COMPARISON
TO ITS EARLIER RUN. BUT ANYWAY...THIS MORNINGS ENSEMBLE MEANS
ARE IN GOOD ENOUGH AGREEMENT ADVERTISING A BROAD CENTRAL/ERN
US TROUGH & ROTATING PERIODIC S/WVS EASTWARD THRU THURSDAY...
RESULTING IN MAINLY CLIMO CHANCES FOR DAILY TSTM ACTIVITY.

FCSTID = 55
GSP   71  95  72  91 /  10  20  20  30
AND   72  97  72  91 /  10  20  20  30
CLT   70  96  72  91 /  10  20  20  30
HKY   69  93  71  90 /  10  20  20  30
AVL   67  88  67  86 /  20  30  30  40

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

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.