Alert archive / Georgia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 53, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

May 9, 2002Hart County, Georgia

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 9, 2002, 6:35 PM EDT for Hart County, Georgia. It was in force for 25 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
May 9, 2002, 6:35 PM EDT (22:35 UTC)
Expired
May 9, 2002, 7:00 PM EDT
In force
25 min
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Hart County, GA

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 90 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:35 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 9, 7:10 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 50 EHartwell, GASome trees were blown down.

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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 179 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 2002-05-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 45 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 2002-05-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 84 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
45 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-315 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
929 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
123 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS52 KGSP 092235 CCA
SVRGSP
GAC147-092300-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING...CORRECTED UGC
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
632 PM EDT THU MAY 9 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  HART COUNTY IN NORTHEAST GEORGIA

* UNTIL 700 PM EDT

* AT 630 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 6 MILES EAST OF CARNESVILLE...OR ABOUT 11 MILES WEST
  OF HARTWELL...MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  HARTWELL AT 640 PM EDT.

WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH AND HAIL TO THE SIZE OF DIMES ARE LIKELY WITH 
THIS STORM.

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.

$$

LANE/NEAL

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 May 9, 5:15 PM EDT, 1 hour 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 9, 5:15 PM EDT, 1 hour 20 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
515 PM EDT THU MAY 9 2002

WL UPDATE ZONES TO REMOVE SVR TSTM WATCH. WL ALSO GO LIKELY POPS IN
THE NE GA ZONES AND THE SRN PART OF THE UPSTATE AS THIS IS THE ONLY
AREA WHICH HAS NOT MIXED OUT THIS AFTN...AND TSRA LOOK LIKE THEY WL
SURVIVE THEIR TRIP ACROSS THE SAVANNAH RIVER VALLEY.

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

MCAVOY

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 9, 5:33 PM EDT, 1 hour 2 minutes before
GAZ018-026-028-029-SCZ010-011-092230-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
533 PM EDT THU MAY 9 2002

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTHEAST GEORGIA AND THE WESTERN SOUTH
CAROLINA UPSTATE...

AT 535 PM EDT WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTHEAST GEORGIA. THE LINE WILL MOVE EAST AT 35
MPH...AND AFFECT AREAS FROM CLARKESVILLE TO TOCCOA AND CARNESVILLE
BY 615 PM. THIS WILL ALSO INCLUDE MUCH OF LAKE HARTWELL.

WINDS OF 40 MPH...TORRENTIAL RAIN...FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND
LIGHTNING AND SMALL HAIL WILL ACCOMPANY THE LINE. IF THE STORMS
CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN...THEY MAY REACH SEVERE LIMITS WITH LARGE
HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR THE MEDIA FOR THE LATEST WEATHER
INFORMATION.

MCAVOY

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 9, 6:19 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPFranklin11 min
May 9, 7:03 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPElbert, Hart27 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Georgia, 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.