Alert archive / Georgia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 30, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

April 28, 2002Stephens County, Georgia; Oconee County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 28, 2002, 9:01 PM EDT for Stephens County, Georgia; Oconee County, South Carolina. It was in force for 44 min. 9 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: Apr 28, 2002, 9:01 PM EDT (01:01 UTC)
Expired: Apr 28, 2002, 9:45 PM EDT
In force: 44 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

Counties Stephens County, GA, Oconee County, SC

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Apr 28, 9:06 PM EDT	Hail 1.75	Toccoa, GA
Apr 28, 9:10 PM EDT	Hail 1.75	Oakway, SC	Reported in South Union.
Apr 28, 9:10 PM EDT	Hail 1.75	Fair Play, SC
Apr 28, 9:10 PM EDT	Hail 1.75	Westminster, SC
Apr 28, 9:20 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60 E	Toccoa, GA	Numerous trees and power lines were reported down near Lake Hartwell. At least one tree fell onto a house.
Apr 28, 9:20 PM EDT	Hail 2	Toccoa, GA
Apr 28, 9:30 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50 E	Keowee, SC	Large plastic covers were blown off of a greenhouse.
Apr 28, 9:30 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 65 E	Madison, SC	Numerous trees and power lines were reported down. In addition, gutters were reportedly torn off of some homes.
Apr 28, 9:30 PM EDT	Hail 3	Madison, SC	Widespread damage to buildings and vehicles was reported.

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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Apr 28, 9:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 00:00Z, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 188 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: 1915 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1206 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 141 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 196 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.3
Supercell composite: 7.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

100 
WUUS52 KGSP 290101
SVRGSP
GAC257-SCC073-290145-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
859 PM EDT SUN APR 28 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  STEPHENS COUNTY IN NORTHEAST GEORGIA
  OCONEE COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 945 PM EDT

* AT 859 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES NORTHWEST OF TOCCOA...MOVING EAST AT 45 MPH. 
  ALSO A STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN EASTERN RABUN COUNTY WILL 
  AFFECT WESTERN OCONEE COUNTY BY 910 PM.

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE NEAR...
  TOCCOA AT 900 PM EDT.
  WESTMINSTER AT 910 PM EDT.
  OAKWAY AT 920 PM EDT.
  FAIR PLAY AT 925 PM EDT.
  TOWNVILLE AT 930 PM EDT.

PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THESE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD BE ALERT FOR
LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND LOCALLY HEAVY
RAIN CAN OCCUR WITH ANY THUNDERSTORM.

$$
MCAVOY/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 Apr 28, 3:23 PM EDT, 5 hours 38 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 28, 3:23 PM EDT, 5 hours 38 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
323 PM EDT SUN APR 28 2002

SUPERCELLULAR DEEP CONVECTION ACRS ERN TENN MOVING TOWARD NC MTNS
ATTM IS THE PRIMARY CONCERN THRU EARLY EARLY EVENING...BUT THIS
IS WELL COVERED WITH WW170 THRU 23Z. POTENTIAL FOR ADDITIONAL
DEEP CONVECTION IS A LITTLE LESS CERTAIN...BUT SYNOPTIC SCALE
FEATURES MENTIONED IN PRELIM DISC STILL LOOK FAVORABLE. WILL KEEP
12 HR 7P-7A POP IN SCATTERED/CHC RANGE FROM 50% W TO 30% E.

WINDS STILL QUITE GUSTY ESP...ACRS THE MTNS/FTHLS...SO WILL HAVE
LWA FOR THE EVENING HOURS.

PRELIM DISC:

AXIS OF HIGH THETA-E AIR & LLVL CONVERGENCE AXIS WILL BE SAGGING SE
INTO THE CWFA THRU THIS EVENING. EVEN THOUGH THE GSP CWFA IS WELL
SOUTH OF THE STRONG UPPER FORCING...THESE AFOREMENTIONED
PARAMETERS...COMBINED WITH A STRONG & DEEP LAYERED VERTICAL WIND
PROFILE & BULLSEYE OF UPPER LVL DIVERGENCE IN LEFT EXIT REGION OF
25H JET...ORGANIZED SVR TSTMS STILL A POSSIBILITY...WHETHER THEY ARE
ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVITY OUT AHEAD OF APPROACHING COLD FRONT OR
ACTIVATED BY LEE TROUGH. AT THE MOMENT...PLAN ON MENTIONING SVR CHCS
THIS EVENING IN ZFP FOR NC MTNS & MAY EXPAND THIS AREA EASTWARD AS
THE AFTERNOON WEARS ON AS WE GET A BETTER HANDLE ON THINGS...OR
WATCHES DICTATE THIS FOR US.

POST FRONTAL AIRMASS & MIXING WORKS IN FROM WEST TO EAST OVERNIGHT
& IT LOOKS LIKE BL FLOW WILL BE STRONG ENUF FOR FCST OF ONGOING
GRADIENT WINDY CONDITIONS ACRS THE MTNS. THE SAME HOLDS TRUE FOR
MONDAY & WILL CONFINE WINDY WORDING TO MTN ZONES. PRES GRADIENT
LOOSENS IN THE AFTERNOON AS HIGH BLDS EAST THEN SETTLES OVER THE
CWFA MONDAY NIGHT PROMOTING CLEAR AND CALM CONDITIONS. RETURN
FLOW DEVELOPS QUICKLY DURING TUESDAY...BUT AT THIS POINT...WILL
LEAN TOWARD LESS AGGRESSIVE ETA SOLUTION...KEEPING MEASURABLE
PCPN WEST/SW OF CWFA UNTIL TUE NITE.

HEIGHTS ACROSS THE ERN US WILL RISE ON DAY 3 IN RESPONSE TO S/WV
ENERGY HEADING INTO THE NATIONS MID SECTION. AT THE SFC...WARM
FRONT WILL LIFT NORTHWARD ACRS THE CWFA WITH WARM SECTOR WX FOR
THURSDAY...ESPECIALLY WHEN FAVORING FURTHER N ECMWF POSITION OF
SURFACE FRONT ON DAY 4. CONVERSELY...AS S/WV TRANSLATES ACRS THE
EASTERN U.S. ON DAY 5...DRAGGING A COLD FRONT ACRS THE CWFA...TIMING
OF THIS LOOKS TO BE LATER THAN GFS ENSEMBLES...BUT WILL NOT EXTEND
POPS PAST FRIDAY. WITH UPPER RIDGING BUILDING OFF TO OUR WEST THIS
WEEKEND...A PREDOMINATELY DRY NW FLOW WILL RESULT ACRS THE EASTERN
US. MODELS INDICATING SOME ATLANTIC RH RETURNING ON EASTERLY LLVL
FLOW...BUT WILL CONTINUE TO KEEP DAY 6-7 DRY.

FCSTID = 55
GSP   58  79  51  80 /  20   0   0  10
AND   59  80  52  81 /  20   0   0  10
CLT   59  78  50  80 /  20   0   0  10
HKY   56  76  48  78 /  20   0   0  10
AVL   52  73  45  76 /  40   0   0  10

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

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 28, 6:36 PM EDT, 2 hours 25 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
636 PM EDT SUN APR 28 2002

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

628 PM     9 NE MOCKSVILLE           NC   .75 INCH HAIL
04/28/02   DAVIE                          DIME SIZED HAIL NEAR
                                          HILLSDALE COMMUNITY.

633 PM     BULADEAN                  NC   .50 INCH HAIL
04/28/02   MITCHELL                       HALF INCH HAIL REPORTED
                                          BY FIRE DEPARTMENT

MOORE

Local storm report, Apr 28, 6:50 PM EDT, 2 hours 11 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
650 PM EDT SUN APR 28 2002

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

647 PM     NEWLAND                   NC   .75 INCH HAIL
04/28/02   AVERY                          911 CENTER REPORTED DIME
                                          SIZED HAIL FALLING IN
                                          DOWNTOWN NEWLAND.

BURRUS

Local storm report, Apr 28, 7:04 PM EDT, 1 hour 57 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
704 PM EDT SUN APR 28 2002

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

655 PM     4 NE NEWLAND              NC   1.00 INCH HAIL
04/28/02   AVERY                          2 SEPERATE REPORTS OF
                                          HAIL AS LARGE AS QUARTERS
                                          FROM THE SAME
                                          AREA...BETWEEN LINVILLE
                                          AND GRANDFATHER MOUNTAIN.
                                          REPORTS FROM TRAINED NWS
                                          SPOTTERS.

BURRUS

Local storm report, Apr 28, 7:20 PM EDT, 1 hour 41 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
720 PM EDT SUN APR 28 2002

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

700 PM     7 E NEWLAND               NC   1.00 INCH HAIL
04/28/02   AVERY                          REPORTED BY SPOTTER

HANDEL

The office that day

Everything else NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 28, 8:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Rabun	37 min
Apr 28, 9:29 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Franklin	31 min
Apr 28, 9:36 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Hart	39 min
Apr 28, 10:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Abbeville	41 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Georgia, 2002 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.