Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 260, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 25, 2002, 1:29 PM EDT for Laurens County, South Carolina. It was in force for 31 min. 1 report 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 25, 2002, 1:29 PM EDT (17:29 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 25, 2002, 2:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 31 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 17:31 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 25, 1:37 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 50 E | Gray Court, SC | Several trees were blown down. One fell on a house. |
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, 5.5 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 898 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -118 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1103 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 13 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 27 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 54 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
335 WUUS52 KGSP 251729 SVRGSP SCC059-251800- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 129 PM EDT SUN AUG 25 2002 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... NORTHERN LAURENS COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 200 PM EDT * AT 127 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH DAMAGING WINDS 9 MILES NORTHWEST OF LAURENS...OR ABOUT OVER GRAY COURT...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH. * THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL MOVE THROUGH GRAY COURT AND TOWARD FOUNTAIN INN... SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WINDS CAN REACH SPEEDS OF 60 TO 100 MPH. THESE WINDS BLOW DOWN TREES...POWER LINES...AND SEVERELY DAMAGE MOBILE HOMES AND SOMETIMES BUILDINGS. VERY LARGE OR WIND-DRIVEN HAIL CAN INJURE ANYONE CAUGHT OUTSIDE. $$ JONES
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 25, 11:04 AM EDT, 2 hours 25 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 25, 11:04 AM EDT, 2 hours 25 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 1104 AM EDT SUN AUG 25 2002 AFTER TAKING A QUICK LOOK AT INCOMING 12Z ETA DATA...LOOKS LIKE IDEA OF INCREASING LARGE SCALE UVV OUT AHEAD OF APRCHG S/WV ALONG WITH DEEPENING RH OVER THE CWFA IS STILL ON TRACK. THIS SCENARIO IS UNFOLDING BASED ON LATEST 88D TRENDS...ACRS THE UPPER SAVANNAH RVR VALLEY. WILL PROBABLY WIND UP WITH MORE PCPN CVRG THAN CURRENTLY ADVERTISED AND WILL RAISE POPS ACCORDINGLY CWFA WIDE. WITH WIDESPREAD CLDS WILL EVALUATE OPENING UP MAX TEMP RANGES TOWARD LOWER SIDE AS WELL. FCSTID = 55 GSP 87 69 82 67 / 60 40 50 50 AND 89 69 83 67 / 60 40 50 50 CLT 90 69 80 67 / 50 50 60 60 HKY 86 67 79 65 / 50 50 60 60 AVL 80 65 77 62 / 80 50 60 60 .GSP... GA...NONE. NC...NONE. SC...NONE.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Aug 25, 12:36 PM EDT, 53 minutes before
SCZ003-006>014-019-251830- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 1236 PM EDT SUN AUG 25 2002 ...STRONG WIND PRODUCING THUNDERSTORMS MOVING ACROSS THE UPSTATE... A CLUSTER OF THUNDERSTORMS...WITH FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING ...WILL CONTINUE MOVING EAST ACROSS THE UPSTATE THROUGH MID- AFTERNOON. A FEW OF THESE STORMS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 50 MPH. THE STRONGEST STORMS WERE LOCATED JUST NORTH OF ANDERSON AS OF 1236 PM...AND SHOULD CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST AROUND 25 MPH...EFFECTING SOUTHERN GREENVILLE AND NORTHERN LAURENS COUNTIES THROUGH 130 PM...AND POSSIBLY AS FAR EAST AS SOUTHERN SPARTANBURG AND UNION COUNTIES AFTER 2 PM. LOCALLY STRONG STORMS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE ACROSS GREENWOOD AND ABBEVILLE COUNTIES AS WELL.
Nearby
Severe 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.