Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 59, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

May 10, 2002Chester County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 10, 2002, 2:18 PM EDT for Chester County, South Carolina. It was in force for 22 min. 2 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
May 10, 2002, 2:18 PM EDT (18:18 UTC)
Expired
May 10, 2002, 2:40 PM EDT
In force
22 min
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Chester County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:20 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 10, 2:30 PM EDTHail 1.75Great Falls, SC
May 10, 2:30 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 60 EGreat Falls, SCNumerous 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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 6.3 hours before the alert went out and 192 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 2002-05-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 16 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 2002-05-10The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -57 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
16 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-244 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1126 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-57 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
9 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.

000 
WUUS52 KGSP 101818
SVRGSP
SCC023-101840-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
218 PM EDT FRI MAY 10 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHEASTERN CHESTER COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 240 PM EDT

* AT 217 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 15 MILES SOUTHEAST OF CHESTER...OR ABOUT 5 MILES
  NORTHWEST OF GREAT FALLS...MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  FORT LAWN AT 220 PM EDT.
  GREAT FALLS AT 225 PM EDT.

HAIL TO THE SIZE OF NICKELS AND WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH ARE LIKELY. 

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

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 10, 2:18 PM EDT, 0 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 10, 2:18 PM EDT, 0 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
218 PM EDT FRI MAY 10 2002

FRONTAL BOUNDARY STRETCHED ACROSS S FCST AREA IS HELPING KEEP
CONVECTION GOING THIS AFTN AND WILL CONT THIS EVE. SO FAR THERE HAVE
BEEN NO SEVERE STORMS AND WITH INCREASED CLOUD COVER KEEPING TEMPS
DOWN A BIT...SEVERE OCCURRENCE IS LESS LIKELY. STILL VERY
MOIST...FAIRLY UNSTABLE AIR WITH CAPE FROM 600 TO 1800 ACROSS AREA
AND LI AROUND -4. S PART OF CWA IS PRIMED FOR PSBL STRONGER STORMS.

AS COLD FRONT PUSHES FURTHER S AND E...HIGH PRES BUILDS IN FROM
N..FORMING A WEDGE-TYPE SITUATION OVER PIEDMONT/LOWER FOOTHILLS
SATURDAY KEEPING TEMPS COOL. ON SAT NIGHT BOUNDARY PUSHES NORTH AND
TEMPS WILL REBOUND ON SUN. THEN A COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO PUSH
BACK THROUGH AREA MON/MON NGT WITH ANOTHER ROUND OF SHWRS AND COOLER
TEMPS BEHIND IT FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK.

FCSTID = 77
GSP   62  74  63  87 /  60  60  20  20
AND   63  75  64  88 /  60  60  20  20
CLT   61  72  62  87 /  60  60  20  20
HKY   59  69  62  85 /  60  50  20  20
AVL   55  69  55  79 /  60  50  20  20

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

RB

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.