Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 170, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

June 16, 2003Abbeville County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 16, 2003, 2:44 PM EDT for Abbeville County, South Carolina. It was in force for 46 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 16, 2003, 2:44 PM EDT (18:44 UTC)
Expired
Jun 16, 2003, 3:30 PM EDT
In force
46 min
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Abbeville County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 80 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:47 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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 6.7 hours before the alert went out and 204 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 2003-06-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1026 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 2003-06-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 10 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1026 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-34 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
865 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
48 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.

360 
WUUS52 KGSP 161844
SVRGSP
SCC001-161930-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
244 PM EDT MON JUN 16 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  ABBEVILLE COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 330 PM EDT

* AT 244 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 10 MILES EAST OF ELBERTON...OR ABOUT 5 MILES SOUTHWEST
  OF LOWNDESVILLE...MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  LOWNDESVILLE AT 250 PM EDT.
  ANTREVILLE AT 310 PM EDT.
  ABBEVILLE AT 320 PM EDT.
  DUE WEST AT 325 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 3425 8275 3406 8261 3412 8227 3441 8235

$$
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 16, 9:26 AM EDT, 5 hours 18 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 16, 9:26 AM EDT, 5 hours 18 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
926 AM EDT MON JUN 16 2003

MORNING UPDATE WILL BRING TEMPERATURES UP SLIGHTLY IN THE
PIEDMONT AND FOOTHILLS OF CWA.  VERY WEAK BOUNDARY JUST NORTH
OF US SEEMS TO BE THE ONLY ELEMENT DIFFERENTIATING WHERE THE
WORST AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP. SO LOOKING AT
NORTH CAROLINA COUNTIES TO HAVE THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS.

SOUNDINGS ARE VERY WET.  WITH TRIGGER TEMPS IN THE LOW 80S
WE EXPECT TSTMS TO START DEVELOPMENT AROUNT 2:00 PM. IN WESTERN
COUNTIES AND A LITTLE LATER IN EASTERN COUNTIES WHERE CLOUD
COVER WILL BE SLOWER TO BURN OFF.

UPDATING FLASH FLOOD WATCH AT 10:00 AM BUT DONT EXPECT ANY
MAJOR CHANGES FOR NOW.

.GSP...
GA...NONE.
NC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR ZONES NCZ033>037...
NCZ048>050...NCZ053>057...NCZ065>072...NCZ082.
SC...NONE.

DICARLO
Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 16, 6:22 AM EDT, 8 hours 22 minutes before
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-161200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
622 AM EDT MON JUN 16 2003

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

.DAY ONE...TODAY

A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT
AS IT MOVES SOUTH ACROSS THE WESTERN CAROLINAS THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING. THE MAIN THREAT FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS.
ALONG AND A LITTLE BEHIND THE FRONT...THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL TEND TO
REFORM OVER THE SAME AREAS. THIS WILL RESULT IN LOCALIZED VERY HEAVY
RAIN ACROSS WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA LATER TODAY AND TONIGHT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

MORE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE TUESDAY AND
WEDNESDAY. ON TUESDAY THE THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE HEAVY RAIN...WITH
A BETTER CHANCE OF DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL ON WEDNESDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE LIKELY THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT TO
REPORT SEVERE WEATHER AS WELL AS TO MONITOR STREAM LEVELS AND REPORT
RAINFALL TOTALS.

MCAVOY

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jun 16, 2:04 PM EDT, 40 minutes before
NCZ053-065-161900-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
204 PM EDT MON JUN 16 2003

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATES SIGNIFICANT THUNDERSTORMS
MOVING ACROSS BUNCOMBE AND HENDERSON COUNTIES IN NORTH CAROLINA.

BUNCOMBE COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT HAS REPORTED MARBLE SIZED
HAIL WITH THE STORMS IN THE AREA.  STRONG GUSTY WINDS...HEAVY RAIN
AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING ALSO CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS AS
THEY MOVE THROUGH THE AREA DURING THE NEXT HOUR.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR THE MEDIA FOR THE LATEST
INFORMATION CONCERNING THIS DEVELOPING WEATHER SITUATION.

DICARLO

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 16, 1:28 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPOconee62 min
Jun 16, 5:48 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPLaurens12 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 2003Every 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.