Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 24, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

April 29, 2003Oconee County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 29, 2003, 4:00 PM EDT for Oconee County, South Carolina. It was in force for 45 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
Apr 29, 2003, 4:00 PM EDT (20:00 UTC)
Expired
Apr 29, 2003, 4:45 PM EDT
In force
45 min
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Oconee County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 80 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:59 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, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 210 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 2003-04-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 11 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 2003-04-29The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 45 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
11 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-376 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1529 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
45 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
66 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 292000
SVRGSP
SCC073-292045-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
400 PM EDT TUE APR 29 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN OCONEE COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 445 PM EDT

* AT 400 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 8 MILES NORTH OF WALHALLA...OR ABOUT 4 MILES EAST OF
  MOUNTAIN REST.  THE STORM WAS NEARLY STATIONARY.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  SALEM AT 445 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 3490 8318 3476 8325 3475 8292 3501 8297

$$

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 Apr 29, 3:22 PM EDT, 38 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 29, 3:22 PM EDT, 38 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
322 PM EDT TUE APR 29 2003

LAPS 18Z CAPES ARE RUNNING GENERALLY >1500 J/KG WITH LITTLE CIN.
RADAR SHOWING A FEW SH AND TS DEVELOPING OVER NC COUNTIES. WITH AN
OLD BOUNDARY...LEE TROF...AND THE AMOUNT OF INSTABILITY OVER THE FA
EXPECT THE POPULATION OF SH/TS TO GROW INTO THE EARLY EVENING. HAVE
HELD ONTO MENTION INTO THE EVENING HOURS AS STORMS WILL GRADUALLY
ASH OUT AFTER DUSK. IN THE MEANTIME...STORMS WILL BE PULSE-LIKE AND
WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO SEE A ISOLATED WIND OR HAIL EVENT.

H5 RIDGE WILL BUILD OVERNIGHT AND OVERALL A SUMMER-LIKE PATTERN.
AGAIN DIURNAL TS STILL THE MAIN CONCERN FOR WEDNESDAY. WITH RETURN
FLOW AHEAD OF DEVELOPING PLAINS LOW DEWPOINTS WILL REMAIN IN THE U50
AND L60S WITH ANOTHER DAY IN THE 70-80S. ATMOS MOISTURE WILL ALSO
INCREASE MAKING A INTERESTING AFTERNOON SOUNDING. MODIFIED TO
EXPECTED LLVL VALUES CAPES ARE EXPECTED IN THE 1500-2500 J/KG RANGE.
WITH A MORE FAVORABLE WIND PATTERN WILL KEEP CHC POPS UP AROUND 40%.
THIS IS SUPPORTED WITH MOS POPS...AND COULD BE TOO LOW...ESPECIALLY
WITH FWC THUNDER POPS IN THE LIKELY RANGE. THURS...AGAIN DIURNAL TS
IS THE MAIN CONCERN. FRI...A FOCUSING MECHANISM ARRIVES IN THE FROM
OF A COLD FRONT. INSTABILITY REMAINS IN PLACE AND WILL KEEP CHC POPS
FOR CONVECTION.

A COLD FRONT SHOULD CROSS THE FORECAST AREA SATURDAY MORNING. ALTHO
THERE IS SOME POSSIBILITY OF LINGERING SHOWERS AFTER SUNRISE AS
HINTED BY THE 00Z GFS...WILL KEEP THE FORECAST DRY BASED ON THE
DRIER 06Z RUN...THINKING THAT ANY POST FRONTAL CONVECTION WILL NOT
DEVELOP UNTIL AFTERNOON WHEN FRONT IS NEARLY TO THE COAST. LATEST
GUIDANCE TEMPS ARE MUCH WARMER FOR SATURDAY AFTERNOON. WILL RAISE
TEMPS A CATEGORY THINKING THAT CLEAR SKY BEHIND FRONT AND DOWNSLOPE
E OF MOUNTAINS WILL MORE THAN COUNTERACT WEAK COLD ADVECTION IN THE
AFTERNOON. SUNDAY AND MONDAY ARE QUIET AND GUIDANCE WILL BE FOLLOWED
CLOSELY. ON TUESDAY...THE GFS DEVELOPS A RETURN FLOW OF MOISTURE
ACROSS THE AREA. PRECIP IN GFS IS NO DOUBT OVERDONE IN THE
MOISTENING PRE-FRONTAL AIR MASS THAT SHOULD BE IN PLACE...BUT
SCATTERED CONVECTION SEEMS A GOOD BET.

FCSTID =   16
GSP   60  80  59  80 /  50  40  40  30
AND   59  81  59  80 /  40  40  40  30
CLT   58  81  59  81 /  30  40  40  30
HKY   58  77  59  78 /  50  40  40  30
AVL   55  76  55  77 /  50  40  40  30

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

NED/MOORE
Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 29, 6:10 AM EDT, 9 hours 50 minutes before
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-291210-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
610 AM EDT TUE APR 29 2003

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

.DAY ONE...

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE...MAINLY THIS AFTERNOON.
A FEW THESE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING BRIEF HEAVY RAIN
AND CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...AND POSSIBLY EVEN SOME SMALL
HAIL.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

EXPECT A DAILY CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 29, 3:00 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPOconee45 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.