Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 10, NWS Wilmington, NC

March 31, 2002Florence County, South Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 31, 2002, 3:05 PM EST for Florence County, South Carolina. It was in force for 55 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: Mar 31, 2002, 3:05 PM EST (20:05 UTC)
Expired: Mar 31, 2002, 4:00 PM EST
In force: 55 min
Issued by: NWS Wilmington, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Florence County, SC

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Mar 31, 3:12 PM EST	Hail 0.88	Florence, SC	Spotter reported dime to nickel size hail.

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
Mar 31, 1:00 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 128 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: 775 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -24 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 541 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 97 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 65 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 2.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS52 KILM 312005
SVRILM
SCC041-312100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
305 PM EST SUN MAR 31 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON NC HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  FLORENCE COUNTY IN NORTHEAST SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 400 PM EST

* AT 304 PM EST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS OVER        
  TIMMONSVILLE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
   FORENCE AT 315 PM
   QUINBY AT 315 PM

HAIL UP TO ONE INCH IN DIAMETER AND WINDS GREATER THAN 58 MILES AN
HOUR ARE EXPECTED FROM THIS STORM. SEEK SHELTER IN A STURDY STRUCTURE
UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. THEY
WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST
OFFICE IN WILMINGTON NC.

.END

$$

SRP

LAT...LON 3417 7990 3406 7980 3410 7965 3421 7957
          3426 7960 3430 7971

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 Wilmington, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Mar 31, 1:35 PM EST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 31, 1:35 PM EST, 1 hour 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
135 PM EST SUN MAR 31 2002

SEVERE TSTM WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF CWA TILL 7 PM. ALL OF CWA IN
WARM SECTOR AND BOUNDARY BTWN FAY AND RDU IS EARLY FOCUS WITH BETTER
MOISTURE CONVERGENCE. OTHER ACTIVITY BREAKING OUT OVER WRN CWA AND
CNTRL SC AS UPPER LEVEL DIFFLUENCE ENHANCES WITH APPROACHING JET.
CURRENT ZONE WORDING OF OF SVR MENTION AND NEAR 100% POPS. MODELS
FAIRLY SIMILAR IN MOVING SURFACE LOW NE OUT OF N GA TOWARD DELMARVA
REGION BY 06Z TONIGHT. BULK OF UVVS LOOKS TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH VORT
MOVING ACROSS LATE THIS AFTN AND THIS EVENING. FRONT SHOULD BEGIN TO
EXIT COAST NEAR 12Z THEREFORE PCPN ENDING BY THEN. MON SHOULD SEE
RAPID CLEARING AND FAIR WEATHER THROUGH TUE. NOT TOO MUCH
DISCREPANCY WITH TEMPS AS THEY REBOUND WED AHD OF NEXT FRONT.

WED-SUN: NEXT FRONT LOOKS TO MOVE THROUGH LATE WED OR EARLY THU BUT
WILL JUST GO FOR INCREASED CLDNS WED/THU AND NOT REINTRODUCE PCPN.
SLIGHTLY COOLER TEMPS FRI/SAT WITH RETURN FLOW AND NORMAL TEMPS BY
SUN.

CWF: WILL CONTINUE MARGINAL SCA FOR WATERS SINCE LLJ SHOULD MIX DOWN
THIS AFTN AND EVENING. CONDITIONS SHOULD CONTINUE INTO EARLY MON
MORNING.

PRELIMINARY NUMBERS...
FCSTID = 01
ILM   58  73  45  75 /  100  10   0  0
LBT   54  69  41  75 /  100   0   0  0
FLO   56  70  44  77 /  100   0   0  0
MYR   59  72  47  73 /  100  10   0  0

.ILM...
NC...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY SURF CITY TO N LITTLE RIVER INLET.
SC...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY LITTLE RIVER INLET TO S SANTEE RIVER.

RWA

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 31, 12:44 PM EST, 2 hours 21 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON, NC
1244 PM EST SUN MAR 31 2002

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

1242 PM    MCCOLL                    SC   1.00 INCH HAIL
03/31/02   MARLBORO                       REPORTED BY SPOTTER PEA TO
                                          PING PONG SIZE HAIL.

DL

Local storm report, Mar 31, 12:45 PM EST, 2 hours 20 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON, NC
1245 PM EST SUN MAR 31 2002

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

1243 PM    1SW MCCOLL                SC   .75 INCH HAIL
03/31/02   MARLBORO                       REPORTED BY PUBLIC DIME
                                          SIZE HAIL

DL

Local storm report, Mar 31, 2:15 PM EST, 50 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON, NC
215 PM EST SUN MAR 31 2002

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

0135 PM    LUMBER BRIDGE             NC   60 MPH TSTM WIND GUST
03/31/02   ROBESON                        PUBLIC REPORTED ESTIMATED
                                          60 MPH THUNDERSTORM WIND
                                          GUST.

DL

Local storm report, Mar 31, 2:27 PM EST, 38 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON, NC
227 PM EST SUN MAR 31 2002

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

0225 PM    2 W FLORENCE              SC   .75 INCH HAIL
03/31/02   FLORENCE                       REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT DIME SIZE HAIL

DL

Local storm report, Mar 31, 2:29 PM EST, 36 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON, NC
229 PM EST SUN MAR 31 2002

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

0225 PM    3 W FLORENCE              SC   .88 INCH HAIL
03/31/02   FLORENCE                       REPORTED BY SPOTTERS
                                          NICKEL SIZE HAIL

DL

Local storm report, Mar 31, 3:00 PM EST, 5 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON, NC
300 PM EST SUN MAR 31 2002

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

0254 PM    2 NW LUMBERTON            NC   .75 INCH HAIL
03/31/02   ROBESON                        HAM RADIO OPERATOR RELAYED
                                          REPORT OF DIME SIZE HAIL.

0254 PM    1 N LUMBERTON             NC   .75 INCH HAIL
03/31/02   ROBESON                        HAM RADIO OPERATOR RELAYED
                                          REPORT OF DIME SIZE HAIL.

DL

The office that day

Everything else NWS Wilmington, NC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 31, 12:37 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Marlboro	38 min
Mar 31, 2:24 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Darlington, Florence	66 min
Mar 31, 2:43 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Marlboro	62 min
Mar 31, 2:55 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Dillon	65 min
Mar 31, 3:29 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Darlington	61 min
Mar 31, 3:58 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Dillon	62 min
Mar 31, 4:00 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Florence	60 min
Mar 31, 4:25 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Marion	65 min
Mar 31, 6:29 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Florence	61 min

Nearby

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.