Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 273, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

July 21, 2003Pickens County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 21, 2003, 1:15 AM EDT for Pickens 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: Jul 21, 2003, 1:15 AM EDT (05:15 UTC)
Expired: Jul 21, 2003, 2:00 AM EDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Pickens County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 38 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:16 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, 5.3 hours before the alert went out and 251 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: 2780 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1108 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 1 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.

735 
WUUS52 KGSP 210515
SVRGSP
SCC077-210600-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
114 AM EDT MON JUL 21 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  NORTHEASTERN PICKENS COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 200 AM EDT

* AT 114 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES NORTHEAST OF PICKENS...OR ABOUT OVER
  PUMPKINTOWN...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 5 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL REMAIN IN RURAL AREAS OF
  NORTHEASTERN PICKENS COUNTY.
  
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 3507 8256 3501 8263 3501 8253 3494 8253
          3489 8257 3497 8277 3506 8278

$$
MCAVOY

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 20, 10:21 PM EDT, 2 hours 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 20, 10:21 PM EDT, 2 hours 54 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1021 PM EDT SUN JUL 20 2003

ISOLATED CONVECTION PERISTS...AND WILL EXTEND PAST MIDNIGHT. DEW
POINTS WAY UP TONIGHT...SO RAISED MIN TEMPS...THROUGH MAYBE NOT
ENOUGH IN MOUNTAINS. FOG STILL APPEARS LIKELY WITH LIGHT WIND
AND MOSTLY CLEAR SKY.

FCSTID =    7
GSP   72  89  70  86 /  20  30  50  60
AND   72  89  69  87 /  30  30  50  60
CLT   71  90  71  85 /  20  30  40  60
HKY   69  88  69  83 /  20  30  40  60
AVL   65  83  65  81 /  20  40  50  60

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

O7

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 20, 6:14 AM EDT, 19 hours 1 minute before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>013-
019-201200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
614 AM EDT SUN JUL 20 2003

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

.DAY ONE...TODAY
AREAS OF DENSE FOG WILL REDUCE VISIBILITY TO LESS THAN A QUARTER MILE
ACROSS MUCH OF THE NORTH CAROLINA PORTION OF THE FORECAST AREA THIS
MORNING...WHILE THE DENSE FOG WILL BE MORE PATCHY IN THE UPSTATE AND
EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA. THE FOG WILL BURN OFF STEADILY THROUGH
MID MORNING. LATER THIS AFTERNOON...ISOLATED SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED AS A RESULT OF DAYTIME HEATING. ANY
THUNDERSTORM TODAY HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BECOME STRONG...WITH WIND
GUSTS TO AROUND 40 MPH.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE ANTICIPATED MONDAY. STORMS
ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS COULD BE SEVERE...AND AN ISOLATED SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM COULD AFFECT THE FOOTHILLS AND PIEDMONT. A STRONG COLD
FRONT WILL DROP INTO THE SOUTHEAST STATES MONDAY NIGHT AND
TUESDAY...BRINGING WIDESPREAD COVERAGE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS.
ANY LOCATION IN THE FORECAST AREA COULD SEE SEVERE WEATHER ON
TUESDAY. THE CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL LINGER THROUGH
THURSDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY.

BURRUS

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 21, 2:25 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Pickens	110 min
Jul 21, 5:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Laurens, Spartanburg	41 min
Jul 21, 5:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Oconee	55 min
Jul 21, 6:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Union	60 min
Jul 21, 7:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Greenville	41 min
Jul 21, 7:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	York	39 min
Jul 21, 7:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Pickens	42 min
Jul 21, 7:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	York	29 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.