Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 336, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

August 5, 2003Laurens County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 5, 2003, 9:48 PM EDT for Laurens County, South Carolina. It was in force for 57 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, 9:48 PM EDT (01:48 UTC)
Expired: Aug 5, 2003, 10:45 PM EDT
In force: 57 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), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:48 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 00:00Z, 1.8 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: 1051 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -19 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1040 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 59 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 80 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 2.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

802 
WUUS52 KGSP 060148
SVRGSP
SCC059-060245-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 1045 PM EDT

* AT 947 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES NORTH OF LAURENS...OR ABOUT OVER ORA...MOVING
  SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  ORA AT 950 PM EDT.
  LAURENS AT 1000 PM EDT.
  CLINTON AT 1020 PM EDT.
  JOANNA AT 1040 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 3471 8195 3462 8214 3425 8192 3437 8166

$$

55

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, 9:40 PM EDT, 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 5, 9:40 PM EDT, 8 minutes before

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

VERY BUSY WATCHING STORMS AROUND GSP METRO AND POINTS SE ATTM...BUT
FEEL CWFA AS WHOLE IN GOOD SHAPE ZFPWISE WITH EARLIER UPDATE OF CHC
POPS FOR THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. WILL TRY AND FIND TIME DURING LATE
EVENING TO FRESHEN UP GRIDS AND POSSIBLY SNEAK OUT A QUICK ZFP
UPDATE.

FCSTID = 55
GSP   68  86  69  86 /  60  40  40  40
AND   69  88  69  88 /  40  40  40  40
CLT   68  87  69  87 /  60  40  40  40
HKY   65  85  67  84 /  40  40  40  40
AVL   62  82  64  81 /  40  40  40  40

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

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 5, 5:05 AM EDT, 16 hours 43 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, 5:21 PM EDT, 4 hours 27 minutes before

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

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

515 PM     MOUNT HOLLY               NC   .75 INCH HAIL
08/05/03   GASTON                         DIME SIZED HAIL REPORTED
                                          BY DUKE POWER COMPANY
                                          METEOROLOGIST.

KRENTZ

Local storm report, Aug 5, 5:32 PM EDT, 4 hours 16 minutes before

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

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

525 PM     UNION GROVE               NC   .75 INCH HAIL
08/05/03   IREDELL                        3/4 INCH HAIL REPORTED BY
                                          SKYWARN SPOTTER NEAR
                                          HARMONY AND UNION GROVE.

KRENTZ

Local storm report, Aug 5, 5:46 PM EDT, 4 hours 2 minutes before

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

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

528 PM     WEST CHARLOTTE            NC   WIND DAMAGE
08/05/03   MECKLENBURG                    COUNTY 911 OFFICIALS
                                          REPORTED TREE DOWN ON
                                          HOUSE.

537 PM     3 E UNION GROVE           NC   1.75 INCH HAIL
08/05/03   IREDELL                        GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL
                                          REPORTED BY HAM RADIO
                                          SPOTTER.

KRENTZ

Local storm report, Aug 5, 8:15 PM EDT, 1 hour 33 minutes before

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

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

756 PM     JONESVILLE                SC   WIND DAMAGE
08/05/03   UNION                          COUNTY 911 OFFICALS
                                          REPORTED ROOF BLOWN OFF
                                          MOBILE HOME.

KRENTZ

Local storm report, Aug 5, 8:56 PM EDT, 52 minutes before

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

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

820 PM     UNION                     SC   WIND DAMAGE
08/05/03   UNION                          COUNTY 911 OFFICIALS
                                          REPORTED NUMEROUS TREES
                                          DOWN AND POWER OUTAGES
                                          ALL AROUND TOWN.

KRENTZ

Special weather statement, Aug 5, 9:21 PM EDT, 27 minutes before

SCZ012-060230-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
921 PM EDT TUE AUG 5 2003

...THUNDERSTORMS STRENGTHENING ACROSS NORTHERN LAURENS COUNTY...

AT 915 PM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED THUNDERSTORMS
DEVELOPING WESTWARD ACROSS THE ENOREE RIVER IN NORTHERN LAURENS
COUNTY. THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD CONTINUE TO INCREASE IN COVERAGE
ACROSS THE AREA AND MOVE SOUTH ACROSS THE COUNTY THROUGH LATE
EVENING. INTERESTS IN THE PATH OF THESE STORMS SHOULD BE READY
FOR VERY HEAVY RAIN...CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...AND POSSIBLY
SOME HAIL AND STRONG WIND GUSTS.

55

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 5, 8:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Union	45 min
Aug 5, 8:33 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Union	117 min
Aug 5, 8:33 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Cherokee, Union	117 min
Aug 5, 10:08 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Laurens	3 hr
Aug 5, 11:17 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Greenville, Spartanburg	118 min
Aug 6, 4:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Spartanburg	46 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.