Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 327, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

August 5, 2003Laurens County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 5, 2003, 2:37 PM EDT for Laurens County, South Carolina. It was in force for 38 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: Aug 5, 2003, 2:37 PM EDT (18:37 UTC)
Expired: Aug 5, 2003, 3:15 PM EDT
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Laurens County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 42 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:40 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, 6.6 hours before the alert went out and 252 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: 249 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -125 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 963 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 59 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

812 
WUUS52 KGSP 051837
SVRGSP
SCC059-051915-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
237 PM EDT TUE AUG 5 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 315 PM EDT

* AT 237 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES WEST OF LAURENS...OR ABOUT 2 MILES NORTHEAST
  OF HICKORY TAVERN...MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  GRAY COURT AT 240 PM EDT.
  LAURENS AT 245 PM EDT.
  ORA AT 250 PM EDT.
  CLINTON AT 305 PM EDT.

THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED BECAUSE THERE IS A
GOOD CHANCE OF BRIEF DAMAGING WINDS OVER SMALL AREAS...AND PERHAPS
LARGE HAIL. THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS ALSO CAUSING AN UNUSUAL
AMOUNT OF CLOUD-TO-GROUND LIGHTNING

LAT...LON 3465 8220 3468 8205 3456 8177 3455 8161
          3445 8169 3445 8227

$$
BPM/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 Aug 5, 1:35 PM EDT, 1 hour 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 5, 1:35 PM EDT, 1 hour 2 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
135 PM EDT TUE AUG 5 2003

UPDATING TO INCREASE POPS TO LIKELY THE REST OF THIS AFTERNOON AND
TO ADD SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH TO THE E FOOTHILLS OF NC AND PARTS
OF THE ADJACENT PIEDMONT.

FCSTID =   77
GSP   86  68  85  69 /  30  30  40  40
AND   87  69  87  69 /  30  30  40  40
CLT   86  68  86  69 /  30  30  40  40
HKY   83  65  84  67 /  30  30  40  40
AVL   80  62  81  64 /  50  30  40  40

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

RB

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 5, 5:05 AM EDT, 9 hours 32 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-051100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
505 AM EDT TUE AUG 5 2003

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

.DAY ONE...TODAY

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE WESTERN CAROLINAS
AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA TODAY. A FEW OF THESE STORMS COULD REACH
SEVERE LEVELS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. LOCALIZED HEAVY RAINFALL
CAN ALSO BE ANTICIPATED. SEE THE LATEST SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
(CAESPSGSP) FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE PERIOD...MAINLY
IN THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. WITH THE GROUND NEARLY SATURATED
RAINFALL WILL RUNOFF INTO NEARBY STREAMS AND CREEKS. IF THESE HEAVY
RAIN PRODUCING THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP THROUGHOUT THE WEEK AS
EXPECTED...FLOODING MAY RESULT. SEE THE LATEST FLOOD POTENTIAL
OUTLOOK (ESFGSP) FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

NED

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 5, 10:50 AM EDT, 3 hours 47 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
1050 AM EDT TUE AUG 05 2003

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

835 PM     MILLS RIVER               NC   WIND DAMAGE
08/04/03   HENDERSON                      TREE DOWN ON NORTH MILLS
                                          RIVER RD AND ANOTHER ON
                                          SOUTH MILLS RIVER RD IN
                                          YARD.  CORN BLOWN FLAT
                                          AND SMALL HAIL WITH
                                          STORM.

950 PM     DUNCAN                    SC   .75 INCH HAIL
08/04/03   SPARTANBURG                    SPOTTER REPORTED DIME
                                          SIZE HAIL 2 NORTH OF
                                          DUNCAN.

TJB

Local storm report, Aug 5, 11:02 AM EDT, 3 hours 35 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
1102 AM EDT TUE AUG 05 2003

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

830 PM     MILLS RIVER               NC   FLASH FLOOD
08/04/03   HENDERSON                      COOP OBSERVER REPORTED
                                          CREEK OVERFLOWED ACROSS N
                                          MILLS RIVER ROAD NEAR HIS
                                          HOME.   RAINFALL 3.90
                                          INCHES MEASURED IN HIS
                                          GAGE IN 1 HR 45 MIN.

TJB

Local storm report, Aug 5, 1:20 PM EDT, 1 hour 17 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
120 PM EDT TUE AUG 05 2003

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

1000 PM    GREER                     SC   WIND DAMAGE
08/04/03   GREENVILLE                     GREER PUBLIC WORKS
                                          REPORTED NUMEROUS TREES
                                          AND POWERLINES DOWNED ON
                                          VICTOR MILLS AND OLD
                                          WOODRUFF ROADS...CAUSING
                                          CONSIDERABLE POWER
                                          OUTAGES.

LAMB

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 4, 9:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Oconee	56 min
Aug 4, 9:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Greenville, Spartanburg	48 min
Aug 4, 9:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Pickens	28 min
Aug 4, 10:36 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Greenville	3 hr
Aug 5, 3:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Cherokee, York	62 min
Aug 5, 7:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Spartanburg	44 min
Aug 5, 7:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Union	64 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.