Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 164, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

June 15, 2003Caldwell County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 15, 2003, 2:23 PM EDT for Caldwell County, North Carolina. It was in force for 37 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: Jun 15, 2003, 2:23 PM EDT (18:23 UTC)
Expired: Jun 15, 2003, 3:00 PM EDT
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Caldwell County, NC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 144 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:27 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, 6.4 hours before the alert went out and 141 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: 268 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -23 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 600 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 39 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.

118 
WUUS52 KGSP 151823
SVRGSP
NCC027-151900-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
222 PM EDT SUN JUN 15 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  NORTHEASTERN CALDWELL COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 300 PM EDT

* AT 222 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES NORTH OF LENOIR...OR ABOUT 5 MILES NORTHWEST
  OF KINGS CREEK...MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  KINGS CREEK AT 245 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 3611 8154 3599 8133 3592 8135 3596 8156

$$
HG

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 Jun 15, 10:00 AM EDT, 4 hours 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 15, 10:00 AM EDT, 4 hours 23 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1000 AM EDT SUN JUN 15 2003

CURRENTLY A LARGE BATCH OF RAIN IS DRIFTING OVER EASTERN KY AND
WV...MOVING NE. UPPER ANALYSIS SHOWS VERY LITTLE IN THE WAY OF WIND
FIELDS...IN FACT...WIND DIRECTIONS ARE PARALLEL TO THE FRONT.
HOWEVER...THE GFS...RUC...AND ETA ARE SHOWING THE FRONT SLIPPING
SOUTH AND GENERATING QPF ALONG THE NORTHERN TIER OF THE FA THIS
AFTERNOON. WITH TROPICAL AIR IN PLACE AND CAPES AGAIN RUNNING >1500
J/KG ATMOSPHERE WILL EASILY SUPPORT SH/TS. WITH PWS CALCULATED TO
BE OVER 1.8 @ GSO AND WITH STM MOTION AROUND 11KTS...HEAVY RAIN
WILL AGAIN POSE A CONCERN. WILL KEEP LIKELY POPS TO THE NORTH WHERE
COVERAGE WILL BE BEST AS S/W ARE EVIDENT IN THE WV AND POSSIBLE
PRESSING FRONT. WILL DROP POPS BACK TO HIGH CHC OVER THE WESTERN TIP
OF NC AD WILL MAKE SOME PRECIP TIMING CHANGES. WILL ONLY MAKE MINOR
ADJUSTMENTS TO THE T/TD GRID AND WILL USE LATEST WIND DATA.

FCSTID =   16
GSP   85  68  82  67 /  40  40  40  60
AND   86  69  81  68 /  40  40  40  60
CLT   85  68  82  66 /  40  50  60  60
HKY   81  67  77  62 /  60  60  60  60
AVL   80  64  79  63 /  60  60  50  60

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

NED

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 15, 6:00 AM EDT, 8 hours 23 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-151145-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
600 AM EDT SUN JUN 15 2003

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

.DAY ONE...TODAY

SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION
EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. THE ATMOSPHERE OVER THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND
NORTHEAST GEORGIA REMAINS VERY MOIST...AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN WILL
BE POSSIBLE. A WEAK SURFACE TROUGH MAY DEVELOP IN FOOTHILLS AND
PIEDMONT OF NORTH CAROLINA THIS AFTERNOON. IF THIS HAPPENS...THE
THREAT OF EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL INCREASE. OUR OFFICE WILL ISSUE A
SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK CAESPSGSP LATER TODAY IF IT APPEARS THAT
THIS HEAVY RAIN THREAT WILL DEVELOP.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE SLOWLY SOUTH...CROSSING THE REGION MONDAY AND
TUESDAY. AS THE FRONT INTERACTS WITH A VERY MOIST ATMOSPHERE...
NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER THE
REGION MONDAY AND TUESDAY. LOCALLY EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL BE
POSSIBLE WITH THE FRONT. SEE OUR PRODUCT CAEESFGSP FOR ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION. MORE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED WEDNESDAY
AND THURSDAY. SOME OF THE STORMS...PARTICULARLY ON WEDNESDAY...MAY
BE SEVERE.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY.

MCAVOY

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 15, 2:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Buncombe	61 min
Jun 15, 2:54 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Caldwell	96 min
Jun 15, 3:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Rutherford	41 min
Jun 15, 4:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Cleveland	61 min
Jun 15, 4:30 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Caldwell	2 hr
Jun 15, 4:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Gaston	52 min
Jun 15, 5:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Rowan	50 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North 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.