Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 252, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

July 17, 2003Oconee County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 17, 2003, 9:53 PM EDT for Oconee County, South Carolina. It was in force for 52 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: Jul 17, 2003, 9:53 PM EDT (01:53 UTC)
Expired: Jul 17, 2003, 10:45 PM EDT
In force: 52 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), 76 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:56 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 00:00Z, 1.9 hours before the alert went out and 199 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: 62 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -110 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1840 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -54 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.

051 
WUUS52 KGSP 180153
SVRGSP
SCC073-180245-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
953 PM EDT THU JUL 17 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 1045 PM EDT

* AT 953 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 6 MILES SOUTHEAST OF WALHALLA...OR ABOUT 3 MILES
  NORTHWEST OF SENECA...MOVING SOUTH AT 10 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  SENECA AT 1000 PM EDT.
  WESTMINSTER AT 1015 PM EDT.
  OAKWAY AT 1035 PM EDT.
  TOWNVILLE AT 1040 PM EDT.
  FAIR PLAY AT 1045 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 3482 8307 3479 8289 3473 8287 3456 8289
          3446 8300 3451 8308 3460 8318

$$
07

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 Jul 17, 3:10 PM EDT, 6 hours 43 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 17, 3:10 PM EDT, 6 hours 43 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
310 PM EDT THU JUL 17 2003

THE SURFACE TROUGH HAS STAYED LARGELY CONFINED TO PIEDMONT SECTIONS
EAST OF THE CWA TODAY. FORCING HAS THUS BEEN LARGELY LACKING...AND
WARM 700 MB TEMPS CONTINUE TO SUPPLY A WEAK CAP TO THE PROFILES. A
FEW SHOWERS KEEP TRYING TO GET STARTED ON RADAR...AND MODEL
SOUNDINGS CONTINUE TO SUGGEST THAT WE OVERCOME THE CAPPING VERY LATE
THIS AFTERNOON. ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP SHOULD BE QUITE
STRONG WITH CONSIDERABLE MID LEVEL DRY AIR AND LOW WET BULB ZERO
HEIGHTS. HAVE PENCILED IN ISOLATED COVERAGE FOR THE EVENING
HOURS...AND WILL ASSESS AGAIN AT ISSUANCE TIME.

MODELS AGREE FAIRLY WELL THAT WEAK LEE TROUGH SLIDES WEST TOWARD THE
BLUE RIDGE TOMORROW AS COLD FRONT MOVES STEADILY SOUTH DOWN THE
APPALACHIANS. INSTABILITY SHOULD BUBBLE BACK UP BY LATE DAY...BUT
THE BEST COMBINATION OF DEEPER MOISTURE...LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE WITH
FRONT...AND UPPER SUPPORT ASSOC WITH FALLING UPPER HEIGHTS MAY BE
LATE FRIDAY NIGHT. FRONTAL BAND SLOWLY DISSIPATES THROUGH SATURDAY
BUT WITH ENOUGH CLOUDS AND SCATTERED PRECIP TO HOLD TEMPERATURES
DOWN AT LEAST A CATEGORY OVER FRI MAXES.

PATTERN IS BACK TO DIURNAL TRENDS FOR SUNDAY AND MONDAY BEFORE
SHARPER ERN TROUGH AND FRONT RETURN BY TUE. STRENGTHENING DYNAMICS
AND UPPER FLOW UNDER TROUGH WILL BOOST PRECIP CHANCES AND SEVERE
WEATHER THREAT FOR TUE INTO WED. GFS-ADVERTISED WAVE ALONG FRONT FOR
WED REMAINS SOMEWHAT SUSPICIOUS GIVEN ALL THE CONVECTIVE FEEDBACK
EXHIBITED BY GFS RECENTLY. WILL STILL LEAN TOWARD SLOWER TROUGH
PROGRESSION WITH DRY WEATHER FEATURED FOR THU.

FCSTID =   33
GSP   68  90  69  86 /  20  30  30  30
AND   69  91  70  87 /  20  30  30  30
CLT   68  90  70  86 /  20  30  40  40
HKY   66  88  67  84 /  20  30  40  40
AVL   63  87  64  81 /  20  30  30  40

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

HG

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 17, 6:05 AM EDT, 15 hours 48 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-171200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
605 AM EDT THU JUL 17 2003

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

.DAY ONE...TODAY

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AGAIN TODAY...MAINLY
LATE IN THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY IN THE EVENING. A FEW OF THE
THUNDERSTORMS WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE MICROBURST TYPE
WIND DAMAGE. THE STORMS WILL ALSO BE SLOW MOVING WHICH WILL ENHANCE
THE POTENTIAL FOR FLASH FLOODING. FOR MORE INFORMATION...SEE THE
SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK (SPSGSP) ISSUED AT 427 AM.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED EACH DAY. A FEW OF THE
THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND LARGE HAIL ON
ANY GIVEN DAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED.

MOORE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 17, 8:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Pickens	55 min
Jul 17, 9:00 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Pickens	2 hr
Jul 17, 9:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Pickens	60 min
Jul 18, 6:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Greenville	55 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.