Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 8, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

March 17, 2002Jackson County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 17, 2002, 8:58 AM EST for Jackson County, North Carolina. It was in force for 47 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: Mar 17, 2002, 8:58 AM EST (13:58 UTC)
Expired: Mar 17, 2002, 9:45 AM EST
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Jackson County, NC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:01 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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 247 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: 278 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -109 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 514 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 158 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 188 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS52 KGSP 171358
SVRGSP
NCC099-171445-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
858 AM EST SUN MAR 17 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  JACKSON COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 945 AM EST

* AT 858 AM EST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 4 MILES WEST OF SYLVA...OR ABOUT 2 MILES WEST OF
  DILLSBORO...MOVING SOUTH AT 45 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  WEBSTER AT 900 AM EST.
  GAY AT 905 AM EST.
  TUCKASEGEE AT 910 AM EST.
  WOLF MOUNTAIN AT 915 AM EST.
  CASHIERS AT 920 AM EST.

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.

$$
07

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 Mar 17, 5:58 AM EST, 3 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 17, 5:58 AM EST, 3 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
558 AM EST SUN MAR 17 2002

ELEVATED CONVECTION CONTINUES TO TRUDGE EAST INTO ZONES WHERE
THUNDER IS NOT CURRENTLY MENTIONED. EXPECT THIS ACTIVITY TO DECREASE
IN INTENSITY AS IT MOVES INTO MORE STABLE AIR...BUT WILL GO AHEAD
AND MENTION A CHANCE OF THUNDER IN ALL ZONES THIS MORNING.

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

LANE

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 17, 6:10 AM EST, 2 hours 48 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
610 AM EST SUN MAR 17 2002

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

605 AM     JONESVILLE                SC   .75 INCH HAIL
03/17/02   UNION                          JONESVILLE FIRE DEPT
                                          REPORTED DIME HAIL FOR
                                          APRXLY 5 MINUTES...NOW
                                          TAPERING OFF.

JONES

Special weather statement, Mar 17, 6:46 AM EST, 2 hours 12 minutes before

NCZ033-048>053-058-059-062>065-171700-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
646 AM EST SUN MAR 17 2002

...SOME HEAVY RAIN TODAY AND TONIGHT - AND SOME FLOODING POSSIBLE BY
TONIGHT...

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE BEEN MOVING ACROSS PARTS OF THE NORTH
CAROLINA MOUNTAINS OVERNIGHT.  SOME LOCATIONS HAVE ALREADY RECEIVED
HEAVY SHOWERS...BUT WITH DRY CONDITIONS AND LOW STREAM FLOW...IT
WILL TAKE SOME TIME BEFORE HEAVY RAIN BECOMES A PROBLEM.

THE SHOWERS AND STORMS EXTENDED WELL BACK TO THE WEST INTO EAST AND
MIDDLE TENNESSEE.  THERE ARE SOME INDICATIONS THAT STORMS WILL
REPEAT OVER THE SAME PARTS OF THE MOUNTAINS AGAIN AND AGAIN
TODAY...AND INTO TONIGHT.  LATEST DATA SUGGEST THAT THE THREAT FOR
THE HEAVIEST RAINFALL IS TONIGHT.  DEPENDING ON HOW MUCH RAIN FALLS
DURING THE DAY...THERE COULD BE A THREAT OF SOME FLOODING OR FLASH
FLOODING BY TONIGHT.

YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO UPDATED WEATHER FORECASTS TODAY.  IT IS
POSSIBLE A FLOOD WATCH COULD BE ISSUED TODAY FOR PARTS OF THE
MOUNTAINS.  A FLASH FLOOD WATCH HAS ALREADY BEEN ISSUED BY THE
MORRISTOWN NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE...FOR EXTREME SOUTHWEST
NORTH CAROLINA...EAST TENNESSEE...AND SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA.

JONES

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 17, 8:27 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Madison	3 hr
Mar 17, 8:39 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Haywood, Swain	36 min
Mar 17, 9:09 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Buncombe	36 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.