Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 266, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

July 19, 2003Rowan County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 19, 2003, 6:11 PM EDT for Rowan County, North 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: Jul 19, 2003, 6:11 PM EDT (22:11 UTC)
Expired: Jul 19, 2003, 7:15 PM EDT
In force: 64 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Rowan County, NC

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 152 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:14 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, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 73 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: 445 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -114 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1209 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -43 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 3 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
WUUS52 KGSP 192211
SVRGSP
NCC159-192315-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
611 PM EDT SAT JUL 19 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  ROWAN COUNTY IN THE PIEDMONT OF NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 715 PM EDT

* AT 611 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 6 MILES NORTHWEST OF SALISBURY...OR ABOUT 4 MILES
  SOUTH OF WOODLEAF...MOVING SOUTH AT 20 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  SPENCER AT 620 PM EDT.
  SALISBURY AT 625 PM EDT.
  CHINA GROVE AT 635 PM EDT.
  FAITH AT 640 PM EDT.
  ROCKWELL AT 650 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 3582 8051 3576 8072 3548 8062 3551 8032

$$
RB

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 19, 3:15 PM EDT, 2 hours 56 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 19, 3:15 PM EDT, 2 hours 56 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
315 PM EDT SAT JUL 19 2003

SFC TROUGH REMAINS STRETCHED ACROSS THE REGION AS COLD FRONT SLIDES
S TOWARD THE AREA. CONVECTION HAS FIRED EARLY IN THE UNSTABLE
AIRMASS WITH LITTLE CAPPING AND WEAK H5 SHORTWAVES SLIPPING EAST
ACROSS THE REGION. COVERAGE SHOULD REMAIN SCATTERED THROUGH
SUNSET...WITH THE BEST FOCUS SHIFTING TOWARD THE NRN FOOTHILLS IN
LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE AS THE EVENING PROGRESSES. SLIGHTLY BETTER MID
LEVEL WIND FLOW ACROSS THE NRN TIER TO ALLOW TSTM MODE TO VARY FROM
WEAK MULTI CELL N TO MAINLY PULSE SEVERE S.

WEAK DRYING INTO SUN WITH NO ADDITIONAL UPPER SUPPORT SHOULD INHIBIT
COVERAGE A LITTLE. LOW LEVEL TROUGH/WEAK FRONT LINGER TO PROVIDE A
FOCUS FOR SLIGHT CHC CONVECTION SUN PM. ANOTHER MAINLY DIURNAL CHC
ON MONDAY BEFORE UPPER ENERGY ASSOC WITH SIGNIFICANT HEIGHT FALLS
ARRIVE BY TUE ALONG WITH APPROACHING FRONT. SETUP REMAINS IMPRESSIVE
FOR POSSIBLE SEVERE WX THREAT FROM TUE INTO WED UNDER THE INFLUENCE
OF STRONG UPPER DYNAMICS. HAVE PUSHED POPS INTO LIKELY RANGE FOR TUE
AND WILL MAINTAIN HIGH CHC THROUGH WED BEFORE PARING BACK FROM THE W
ON THU.

EASTWARD PROGRESSION OF LONGWAVE TROUGH STILL QUESTIONABLE FOR LATE
WEEK...BUT DRYING IN THE COLUMN SHOULD ALLOW DRY FORECAST TO GO
FORWARD FOR NEXT FRI/SAT.

FCSTID =   33
GSP   69  89  69  89 /  30  20  20  30
AND   69  90  69  90 /  30  20  20  30
CLT   69  89  69  89 /  30  20  20  30
HKY   67  87  67  87 /  40  20  20  30
AVL   64  85  64  85 /  30  20  20  30

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

HG

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 19, 5:35 AM EDT, 12 hours 36 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-191145-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
535 AM EDT SAT JUL 19 2003

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

.DAY ONE...TODAY

THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE REGION AGAIN TODAY. SOME OF
THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE SEVERE WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE
HAIL. SEE OUR SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK...UNDER THE PRODUCT I.D.
CAESPSGSP...FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE AGAIN LATE MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY
AS AN UNSEASONABLY STRONG COLD FRONT MOVES INTO THE REGION. SOME OF
THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL STAND A GOOD CHANCE OF BEING SEVERE. IF THE
FRONT MOVES SLOWLY ENOUGH...THERE WILL ALSO BE A CHANCE OF LOCALIZED
FLOODING.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE LIKELY.

MCAVOY

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 19, 4:24 PM EDT, 1 hour 47 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
424 PM EDT SAT JUL 19 2003

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

415 PM     DYSARTSVILLE              NC   WIND DAMAGE
07/19/03   MCDOWELL                       SPOTTER REPORTS TREE
                                          BLOWN DOWN ONTO HIGHWAY
                                          64.

HG

Local storm report, Jul 19, 5:56 PM EDT, 15 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
556 PM EDT SAT JUL 19 2003

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

543 PM     MOCKSVILLE                NC   .75 INCH HAIL
07/19/03   DAVIE                          DIME SIZE HAIL REPORTED
                                          BY SPOTTER.

RB

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 19, 3:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	McDowell	53 min
Jul 19, 5:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Davie	25 min
Jul 19, 6:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Cabarrus	38 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.