Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 338, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

August 6, 2003Spartanburg County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 6, 2003, 4:59 PM EDT for Spartanburg County, South Carolina. It was in force for 46 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 6, 2003, 4:59 PM EDT (20:59 UTC)
Expired: Aug 6, 2003, 5:45 PM EDT
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Spartanburg County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 25 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:00 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, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 237 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: 12 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -114 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1125 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 14 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 87 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.

987 
WUUS52 KGSP 062059
SVRGSP
SCC083-062145-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
459 PM EDT WED AUG 6 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN SPARTANBURG COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 545 PM EDT

* AT 459 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SPARTANBURG...OR ABOUT 2 MILES
  WEST OF MOORE...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  MOORE AT 500 PM EDT.
  WOODRUFF AT 510 PM EDT.
  PAULINE AT 520 PM EDT.
  CROSS ANCHOR AT 545 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 3483 8217 3496 8202 3482 8178 3473 8179
          3460 8185 3470 8202

$$
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 Aug 6, 2:33 PM EDT, 2 hours 26 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 6, 2:33 PM EDT, 2 hours 26 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
233 PM EDT WED AUG 6 2003

ANOMALOUS UPPER LEVEL LONGWAVE TROUGH TO REMAIN OVER EASTERN USA
THROUGH EARLY PART OF PACKAGE...WITH RIDGE TO W. CONVECTION IN N AL
THIS AFTERNOON TRACKING E TOWARD GA/SC...AND WILL KEEP LIKELY
EVENING POPS THOSE AREAS...WITH CHANCE NC. CONCERNED ABOUT SEVERE
POTENTIAL S PORTION...AND FLOOD POTENTIAL ENTIRE AREA. WILL LEAVE
CHANCE POPS WELL AFTER MIDNIGHT...AS CONVECTION HAS BEEN SLOW TO
DIE OFF. DENSE FOG WAS OBSERVED ACROSS MUCH OF AREA EARLY THIS
MORNING...AND WILL INCLUDE AGAIN THU.

IMPULSE ROUNDING BASE OF TROUGH THU MORE IMPRESSIVE THAN TODAY...AND
WILL CARRY LIKELY POP ENTIRE AREA. WITH UPPER ENERGY STILL UPSTREAM
THU NIGHT...LOW CHANCE POP WILL CONTINUE OVERNIGHT. ANOTHER VIGOROUS
VORT LOBE APPROACHES AREA FRI...TAKING UNTIL LATE NIGHT TO MOVE
THROUGH. CARRIED SLIGHTLY LOWER POP WITH THIS FEATURE AS IT IS A BIT
WEAKER THAN THURSDAY IMPULSE. YET ANOTHER VORT LOBE APPROACHES SAT
INTO SAT NIGHT. THOUGH MORE IMPRESSIVE THAN FRIDAY VORT...WILL KEEP
POP ABOUT LIKE FRI...AS CONFIDENCE DECREASES ON STRENGTH/TIMING.
TEMPERATURES NEAR PERSISTENCE WITH NO CHANGE IN AIR MASS.

EXTENDED FORECAST STARTS MUCH AS EARLY PACKAGE ENDS. BY MON GFS HAS
STRONG SHORTWAVE DIGGING INTO BASE OF TROUGH...CLOSING OF LOW IN S
MS RIVER VALLEY. IF THIS SCENARIO UNFOLDS...W ATLANTIC RIDGE COULD
RETROGRADE OVER AREA...WARMING/DRYING AREA. CURRENT NCEP SOLUTION
MAINTAINS WEAK BOUNDARY OVER AREA ON E SIDE OF UPPER TROUGH THROUGH
TUE...LEADING TO MORE PERSISTENCE IN FORECAST. BY WED BOUNDARY OUT
OF AREA AND WEAKENING...AND WILL CARRY SLIGHT CHANCE POP.

FCSTID =    7
GSP   69  85  68  85 /  60  60  60  40
AND   70  85  69  85 /  60  60  60  40
CLT   69  85  68  85 /  50  60  60  40
HKY   67  83  66  83 /  50  60  60  30
AVL   64  81  63  81 /  50  60  60  30

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

O7

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 6, 5:08 AM EDT, 11 hours 51 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-061100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
508 AM EDT WED AUG 6 2003

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

.DAY ONE...TODAY

SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP TODAY OVER THE
FORECAST AREA. ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP LATE THIS
AFTERNOON AND EVENING. IN ADDITION...SLOW STORM MOTIONS WILL ALLOW
FOR HIGH RAINFALL RATES. PLEASE SEE THE LATEST SEVERE WEATHER
OUTLOOK (CAESPSGSP) FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM AND FLOODING THREAT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL LINGER OVER THE AREA THROUGH THE
PERIOD. WITH THE GROUND NEARLY SATURATED...ADDITIONAL RAINFALL WILL
QUICKLY RUNOFF INTO NEARBY STREAMS AND CREEKS. IF THESE HEAVY RAIN
PRODUCING THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP THROUGHOUT THE WEEK AS
EXPECTED...FLOODING MAY RESULT. PLEASE 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

Special weather statement, Aug 6, 3:15 PM EDT, 1 hour 44 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-070300-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
315 PM EDT WED AUG 6 2003

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND LOCAL FLASH FLOODING POSSIBLE AGAIN LATE
THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...

SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE EAST ACROSS NORTHEAST
GEORGIA AND THE WESTERN CAROLINAS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.
NORTHEAST GEORGIA AND UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA ARE EXPECTED TO HAVE
THE GREATEST COVERAGE OF THUNDERSTORMS.

ANY OF THE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING PENNY SIZE
HAIL...LOCALLY DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 60 TO 70 MPH...AND RAINFALL
RATES OF SEVERAL INCHES PER HOUR.

SPOTTER GROUPS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO ACTIVATE QUICKLY LATE THIS
AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. DISPATCHERS SHOULD ENSURE COUNTY
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS ARE AWARE OF THIS INFORMATION.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR FAVORITE MEDIA OUTLET FOR
THE LATEST UPDATES CONCERNING THIS POTENTIAL SEVERE WEATHER
SITUATION.

07

Local storm report, Aug 6, 3:58 PM EDT, 1 hour 1 minute before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
358 PM EDT WED AUG 06 2003

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

350 PM     4 W CARNESVILLE           GA   WIND DAMAGE
08/06/03   FRANKLIN                       SEVERAL LARGE TREES DOWN
                                          AND LARGE HAIL OF UNKNOWN
                                          SIZE REPORTED BY COMMS
                                          CENTER

LANE

Local storm report, Aug 6, 4:40 PM EDT, 19 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
440 PM EDT WED AUG 06 2003

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

430 PM     8 E CARNESVILLE           GA   WIND DAMAGE
08/06/03   FRANKLIN                       911 CENTER REPORTED TREES
                                          DOWN IN CANON AREA ON HWY
                                          51 AND ON CAWTHON DAVIS
                                          RD.

TJB

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, 9:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Laurens	57 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

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.