Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 366, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

August 22, 2003Polk County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 22, 2003, 2:49 PM EDT for Polk County, North Carolina. It was in force for 41 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 22, 2003, 2:49 PM EDT (18:49 UTC)
Expired: Aug 22, 2003, 3:30 PM EDT
In force: 41 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Polk County, NC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 45 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:50 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, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 222 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: 1565 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -41 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1038 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 4 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 221849
SVRGSP
NCC149-221930-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
248 PM EDT FRI AUG 22 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  POLK COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 330 PM EDT

* AT 248 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM NEAR COLUMBUS...MOVING SOUTH AT 5 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  COLUMBUS AT 255 PM EDT.
  TRYON AT 310 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 3534 8206 3535 8228 3519 8235 3519 8201

$$

RWH

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 22, 10:06 AM EDT, 4 hours 43 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 22, 10:06 AM EDT, 4 hours 43 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1006 AM EDT FRI AUG 22 2003

MADE MINIMAL CHANGES TO GRIDS/FORECAST FOR THIS AFTERNOON.
HOWEVER...DID SHIFT HIGHER CHANCE POPS INTO THE PIEDMONT OF NC BASED
ON DECENT LEE TROF DEVELOPMENT AND S/W CROSSING THIS AFTERNOON.

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

KRENTZ

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 22, 6:01 AM EDT, 8 hours 48 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-221200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
601 AM EDT FRI AUG 22 2003

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

.DAY ONE...TODAY
SCATTERED AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED AGAIN TODAY. ONE OR
TWO OF THE STORMS COULD BRIEFLY REACH SEVERE LEVELS...BUT WIDESPREAD
SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED. ANY STORMS THAT DO FORM WILL BE SLOW
MOVERS...ENHANCING THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAINFALL AT ANY ONE
LOCATION. SEE THE LATEST SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK...UNDER PRODUCT
LABEL CAESPSGSP...FOR MORE INFORMATION ON OUR SEVERE WEATHER
PROSPECTS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

A COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO CROSS OUR REGION SATURDAY. SCATTERED
THUNDERSTORMS ARE ANTICIPATED AGAIN...WITH ISOLATED SEVERE WEATHER
POSSIBLE. A PERIOD OF FAIR WEATHER IS ANTICIPATED FOLLOWING THE
SATURDAY FRONTAL PASSAGE...BEFORE ANOTHER COLD FRONT RETURNS THE
CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS FOR MIDWEEK.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

BURRUS

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 22, 12:04 PM EDT, 2 hours 45 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-222100-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1204 PM EDT FRI AUG 22 2003

...ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON...

THE LOWER LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE WILL REMAIN QUITE MOIST TODAY AS
TEMPERATURES CLIMB TO SOME OF THEIR HIGHEST LEVELS OF THE SUMMER. BY
LATE AFTERNOON...THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA ARE
EXPECTED TO BE VERY UNSTABLE...RESULTING IN IDEAL CONDITIONS FOR
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS. ONE OR TWO THUNDERSTORMS COULD BRIEFLY
REACH SEVERE LEVELS...CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIND GUSTS TO NEAR 60 MPH
AND LARGE HAIL.

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

RWH

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 22, 3:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Alexander	43 min
Aug 22, 3:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Iredell	39 min
Aug 22, 3:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Burke, Caldwell	50 min
Aug 22, 3:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Rutherford	52 min
Aug 22, 4:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Cleveland, Gaston	44 min
Aug 22, 4:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Catawba	39 min
Aug 22, 4:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Iredell	43 min
Aug 22, 5:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Cleveland	42 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North 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.