Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 102, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

May 7, 2003York County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 7, 2003, 8:42 PM EDT for York County, South Carolina. It was in force for 33 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 7, 2003, 8:42 PM EDT (00:42 UTC)
Expired: May 7, 2003, 9:15 PM EDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County York County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:44 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.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 00:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 162 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: 97 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -94 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1263 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 61 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 107 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

325 
WUUS52 KGSP 080042
SVRGSP
SCC091-080115-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
840 PM EDT WED MAY 7 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN YORK COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 915 PM EDT

* AT 840 PM EDT...SEVERE WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES SOUTHEAST OF ROCK HILL...OR ABOUT OVER
  CATAWBA...MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  THE CATAWBA RIVER AT 850 PM EDT.
  
HAIL TO THE SIZE OF PENNIES CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM.

ALTHOUGH LARGE HAIL IS THE BIGGEST THREAT WITH THIS SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM...BRIEF DAMAGING WINDS COULD ALSO OCCUR.

LAT...LON 3499 8111 3482 8104 3482 8087 3505 8090

$$

RWH

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 7, 2:50 PM EDT, 5 hours 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 7, 2:50 PM EDT, 5 hours 52 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
250 PM EDT WED MAY 7 2003

CONVECTION HAS BEEN SLOW TO DEVELOP OVER THE REGION THIS AFTN.
12 UTC FFC SOUNDING HAD A FAIRLY STRONG CAP THAT WOULD NEED A
TEMPERATURE OF 80 AND DWPT OF 70 TO BREAK. BETWEEN THAT AND THE LACK
OF ANY SFC CONVERGENCE ACROSS THE CWA MOST OF THE DAY...THINGS HAVE
REMAINED QUIET. MCC OVER THE AL/GA BORDER WL CONTINUE TO MOVE ESE
THROUGH THE EVENING HRS ON THE WARM SIDE OF OLD OUTFLOW BNDRYS. THIS
WL KEEP THICK CI CLOUD COVER OVER THE CWA AND HURT SFC INFLOW INTO
THE UPSTATE.

HOWEVER...FLOW IS BEGINNING TO BACK FARTHER NORTH...AND MSAS IS
SHOWING INCREASING MOISTURE CONVERGENCE ACROSS THE MTNS AND NC
FOOTHILLS. ERN TN CONVECTION IS JUST BEGINNING TO MOVE INTO THE WRN
NC MTNS. STILL EXPECT LINEAR MCS TO ORGANIZE OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN
AND CROSS MOST OF THE CWA THIS EVENING...THOUGH THE AMOUNT OF SEVERE
WEATHER LOOKS LIKE IT WL BE MORE LIMITED THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT.

WL CONTINUE THE FFA UNTIL MIDNIGHT. WITH PCPN JUST MOVING IN...AND
W/1 HR FFG VALUES UNDER AN INCH IN THREES HOURS...NOT MUCH CHOICE.

LATE TNGT AND THU FLOW TURNS NW ACROSS THE CWA AS SHORTWAVE MOVES
OFF THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. THIS PUSHES A WEAK FRONT INTO THE UPSTATE
AND TAILING BACK INTO THE MTNS. THIS SHOULD SERVE AS A FOCUSING
MECHANISM FOR AFTN CONVECTION THU. ETA ALSO BRINGS A FAIRLY STRONG
VORT ACROSS THE CWA IN THE AFTN. THUS...WL KEEP 30 POPS.

LLVL UPGLIDE INCREASES LATE THU NGHT AS STRONG TROUGH BEGINS TO LIFT
INTO THE NRN PLAINS. THIS MAY BE ENUF FOR NOCTURNAL CONVECTION AND
WL INCLUDE POPS THROUGH THU NGHT. BY FRI...MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES
INCREASE AS THE ELEVATED MIXED LAYER EJECTS ACROSS A GOOD BIT OF THE
SE STATES. HOWEVER...THIS WL ALSO RESULT IN A STRONG CAP. WL
CONTINUE CHANCE OF AFTN CONVECTION...BUT CHANCES ARE NOT LOOKING
GREAT.

WL CONFINE POPS TO THE HIGHER TERRAIN SAT...W/FROPA GIVING THE
ENTIRE AREA A SHOT OF PCPN SUN AND SUN NGHT. WL GO DRY MON-WED.
HOWEVER...PRIND ARE THAT FROPA MAY NOT GET AS FAR S AS EARLIER
THOUGHT...AND THE DRY FORECAST IS NOT A HIGH CONFIDENCE ONE.

FCSTID =   14
GSP   63  83  62  85 /  40  30  30  30
AND   63  83  63  87 /  40  30  30  30
CLT   64  84  63  86 /  60  30  30  30
HKY   61  82  60  83 /  50  30  30  30
AVL   58  78  59  81 /  40  30  30  30

.GSP...
GA...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL MIDNIGHT FOR ZONES
GAZ010...GAZ017>018...GAZ026...GAZ028>029.

NC...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL MIDNIGHT FOR ZONES
NCZ048...NCZ051>053...NCZ058>059...NCZ062>067.

SC...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL MIDNIGHT FOR ZONES
SCZ001>007...SCZ010>012...SCZ019.

MCAVOY

Hazardous weather outlook, May 7, 4:30 AM EDT, 16 hours 12 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-071100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
430 AM EDT WED MAY 7 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA...
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA.

.DAY ONE...

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED AGAIN TODAY...SOME WITH LARGE HAIL
AND DAMAGING WIND. ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. FLOODING IS
LIKELY TO BE A SERIOUS CONCERN ...ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE COUNTIES THAT
HAVE ALREADY EXPERIENCED HIGH WATER PROBLEMS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. SOME MAY BECOME
SEVERE...ESPECIALLY LATE AFTERNOON THROUGH EVENING.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE LIKELY.

RB

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 7, 8:42 PM EDT, 0 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
842 PM EDT WED MAY 07 2003

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

835 PM     CATAWBA                   SC   .75 INCH HAIL
05/07/03   YORK                           DIME SIZE HAIL REPORTED.

RBN

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2003

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.