Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 134, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

May 16, 2003Greenville County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 16, 2003, 7:11 PM EDT for Greenville County, South Carolina. It was in force for 64 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 16, 2003, 7:11 PM EDT (23:11 UTC)
Expired: May 16, 2003, 8:15 PM EDT
In force: 64 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Greenville County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 15 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:11 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 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 250 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: 19 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -59 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 485 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 131 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 162311
SVRGSP
SCC045-170015-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
711 PM EDT FRI MAY 16 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  CENTRAL GREENVILLE COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 815 PM EDT

* AT 711 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 10 MILES NORTH OF GREENVILLE...OR ABOUT 4 MILES
  NORTHEAST OF PARIS MOUNTAIN STATE PARK...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20
  MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  TAYLORS AT 720 PM EDT.
  GREER AT 725 PM EDT.

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.

LAT...LON 3510 8232 3501 8250 3473 8224 3501 8222

$$

NED

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 16, 2:56 PM EDT, 4 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 16, 2:56 PM EDT, 4 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
256 PM EDT FRI MAY 16 2003

WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR KGSP 88D TRENDS THROUGH ZFP ISSUANCE TIME
FOR DEVELOPMENT OF DEEP CONVECTION...WHETHER ITS IN THE HIGHER CAPE
VALUES ACROSS THE UPSTATE/NE GA...IN THE IMMEDIATE LEE WHERE ETA
HAS PROGGED LLVL CONVERGENCE MAX...OR JUST MOVING INTO THE NC MTNS
FROM DEVELOPMENT ACRS THE TENN VALLEY. FOR THE TIME BEING...PLAN
CHC POPS FOR TSTMS ALL AREAS INTO THIS EVENING. LATER TONIGHT...EVEN
WITH LARGE SCALE STABILIZATION OF ATMOSPHERE...WILL KEEP CHC POPS
FOR SHOWERS OVERNIGHT AS DEEPER RH AND WEAK VORT AXIS ROTATES EAST
INTO THE CWFA.

ON SATURDAY...STABLE AIR WILL BEGIN TO APRCH THE CWFA FROM THE NORTH
AS HYBRID DAMMING REGIME DEVELOPS. PLAN ON CONFINING TSTM CHCS ALONG
PERIPHERY OF DEVELOPING SFC WEDGE...ROUGHLY ALONG ETA DEPICTION OF
POSITIVE CAPE AREA AND SPC DAY 2 GNRL RISK. STARTING SATURDAY NIGHT
...CWFA TO REMAIN UNDER PERSISTENT CAD WITH BEST MOISTURE AND LIFT
...MAINLY FROM SOUTHERLY UPGLIDE FLOW ABOVE WEDGE LAYER...ACRS
SW ZONES...HENCE BEST POPS...WITH AN UPPER LIMIT IN THE HIGH CHC
RANGE AND HIGHEST QPF IN THIS AREA. PROBABLY WILL SEE DAMMING
REGIME CONTINUE RIGHT INTO TUESDAY UNTIL COLD FRONT APRCHS ON
WEDNESDAY WHERE CHC OF THUNDER REMAINS. PATTERN LOOKS LESS AMPLIFIED
THAN WHAT OBSERVED YESTERDAY FOR DAYS 6-7...AS AFOREMENTIONED COLD
FRONT MAY WIND UP JUST LAYING OVER ACRS THE REGION FOR THURSDAY
AND FRIDAY.

FCSTID = 55
GSP   61  75  59  70 /  40  60  50  50
AND   61  75  59  70 /  40  60  50  50
CLT   60  72  57  68 /  40  50  50  50
HKY   59  71  55  65 /  40  50  50  50
AVL   57  70  56  68 /  40  60  50  50

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

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 16, 2:42 PM EDT, 4 hours 29 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
242 PM EDT FRI MAY 16 2003

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

615 PM     3 N SALISBURY             NC   1.00 INCH HAIL
05/15/03   ROWAN                          STORM SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          DIME TO QUARTER SIZED
                                          HAIL BETWEEN 6 AND 630
                                          PM.

OUTLAW/LANE

Local storm report, May 16, 3:24 PM EDT, 3 hours 47 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
324 PM EDT FRI MAY 16 2003

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

525 PM     8 SW TAYLORSVILLE         NC   1.00 INCH HAIL
05/15/03   ALEXANDER                      STORM SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          QUARTER SIZED HAIL IN THE
                                          BETHLEHEM AREA OF
                                          SOUTHWEST ALEXANDER.

BRUCE/OUTLAW

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 8:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	York	55 min
May 16, 3:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Oconee	48 min
May 16, 7:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Spartanburg	64 min

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.