Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 348, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

August 16, 2003Union County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 16, 2003, 1:46 PM EDT for Union County, South Carolina. It was in force for 44 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 16, 2003, 1:46 PM EDT (17:46 UTC)
Expired: Aug 16, 2003, 2:30 PM EDT
In force: 44 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Union County, SC

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, 5.8 hours before the alert went out and 214 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: 1094 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -41 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 880 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 2 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -34 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -33 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.

000 
WUUS52 KGSP 161746
SVRGSP
SCC087-161830-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
146 PM EDT SAT AUG 16 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 230 PM EDT

* AT 146 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES NORTHWEST OF UNION...OR ABOUT 5 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF JONESVILLE...MOVING EAST AT 5 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  BUFFALO AT 205 PM EDT.
  JONESVILLE AT 215 PM EDT.
  UNION AT 225 PM EDT.
  ADAMSBURG AT 230 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 3469 8182 3484 8177 3491 8170 3488 8163
          3487 8148 3471 8145

$$
JONES

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 16, 1:45 PM EDT, 1 minute earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 16, 1:45 PM EDT, 1 minute before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
145 PM EDT SAT AUG 16 2003

UPPER TROF APPROACHING FROM THE NW WILL MOVE THRU BY LATE THIS EVE
AND CONVECTION WILL MOVE E WITH IT. WITH WEAK RIDGE BUILDING
OVERNIGHT EXPECT PATCHY FOG EARLY SUN MORNING. ANOTHER SHORTWAVE
TROF FCST TO MOVE THRU THE AREA TOMORROW. EXPECT STRONGEST PVA/BEST
LIFT IN THE AFTN-EARLY EVE PERIODS. ON MON AFTN GFS SHOWS ANOTHER
SHRTWV APPROACHING AND ALTHOUGH DEEPER MOISTURE MOVES SE...WILL HOLD
ON TO AT LEAST SLIGHT CHANCE POPS. SURFACE RIDGE BUILDS OVER AREA
TUE-FRI AND HAVE SLIGHT CHANCE LATE DAY POPS IN THE GRIDS. A SFC
BOUNDARY IS PROGGED TO MOVE IN SAT...BRINGING ANOTHER CHANCE OF
CONVECTION TO THE AREA.

FCSTID = 77
GSP   71  88  69  88 /  40  40  40  20
AND   71  88  70  89 /  40  40  40  20
CLT   71  88  69  88 /  40  40  40  20
HKY   69  87  68  87 /  40  40  40  20
AVL   65  84  64  84 /  40  40  40  20

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

RB

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 16, 6:10 AM EDT, 7 hours 36 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-161200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
610 AM EDT SAT AUG 16 2003

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

.DAY ONE...TODAY

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION
THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND EVENING. THERE IS A CHANCE THAT A FEW
THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE LARGE HAIL OR DAMAGING WIND GUSTS FOR A
BRIEF TIME. THERE IS ALSO THE POSSIBILITY THAT A FEW OF THE STORMS
COULD PRODUCE ENOUGH RAIN TO CAUSE FLOODING OF URBAN AND POOR
DRAINAGE AREAS IN LOCATIONS THAT HAVE RECEIVED EXCESSIVE RAIN IN THE
LAST FEW WEEKS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

ANOTHER ROUND OF SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS IS EXPECTED SUNDAY AND
SUNDAY EVENING. THERE IS A SLIGHTLY BETTER CHANCE OF SEVERE WEATHER
LATE IN THE DAY. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALSO EXPECTED MONDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED ON SUNDAY.

MOORE

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 16, 1:33 PM EDT, 13 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
133 PM EDT SAT AUG 16 2003

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

900 AM     5-10 SE SALISBURY         NC   FLASH FLOOD
08/16/03   ROWAN                          SPOTTER REPORTED FLASH
                                          FLOODING OF SMALL STREAMS
                                          AROUND GRANITE QUARRY AND
                                          ROCKWELL RESULTED IN
                                          FLOODED ROADS...HOUSES...
                                          APARTMENTS...AND CARS.
                                          UNTIL 11 AM...BUT SOME
                                          ROADS STILL FLOODED AFTER
                                          NOON.

JONES

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 16, 1:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Spartanburg	48 min
Aug 16, 3:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Oconee	47 min
Aug 16, 3:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Greenville, Spartanburg	39 min
Aug 16, 3:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Pickens	50 min
Aug 16, 3:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Abbeville	50 min
Aug 16, 4:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Anderson	61 min
Aug 16, 4:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Greenwood	30 min
Aug 16, 5:15 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Anderson, Greenwood	3 hr

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.