Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 377, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

August 26, 2003Jackson County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 26, 2003, 4:42 PM EDT for Jackson County, North Carolina. It was in force for 63 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 26, 2003, 4:42 PM EDT (20:42 UTC)
Expired
Aug 26, 2003, 5:45 PM EDT
In force
63 min
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Jackson County, NC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 96 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:45 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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 251 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 2003-08-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 915 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 2003-08-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 6 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
915 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-32 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
914 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
19 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 262042
SVRGSP
NCC099-262145-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
442 PM EDT TUE AUG 26 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 545 PM EDT

* AT 442 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES SOUTHEAST OF SYLVA...OR ABOUT 4 MILES NORTH OF
  TUCKASEGEE.  THE STORM WAS NEARLY STATIONARY.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  CULLOWHEE 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 3520 8310 3533 8295 3553 8312 3534 8335

$$
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 26, 3:12 PM EDT, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 26, 3:12 PM EDT, 1 hour 30 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
312 PM EDT TUE AUG 26 2003

ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE FORMED OVER SOME OF THE
HIGHER TERRAIN IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA.  THESE SHOULD BE
SHORT-LIVED BUT HAVE INCLUDED LOW CHANCE POPS INTO THE EVENING TO
ACCOUNT FOR THIS PRECIPITATION.  OTHERWISE... SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE
AND RIDGE ALOFT WILL CONTINUE GENERALLY DRY AND VERY WARM WEATHER
FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS.  GUIDANCE SHOWS MID-LEVEL TEMPERATURES
LOWER A DEGREE OR TWO THROUGH THURSDAY THUS WEAKENING SOMEWHAT THE
CAPPING TENDENCY OF THE CURRENT AIRMASS.  ALSO... LOW AND MID-LEVEL
MOISTURE WILL BE INCREASING A BIT.  EVEN THOUGH MAIN FRONT WILL
REMAIN TO OUR NORTH THROUGH FRIDAY... WILL ADD LOW CHANCE POPS
PRIMARILY TO MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS FOR AFTERNOON AND EVENING
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS.

SATURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... SURFACE FRONT APPROACHES MOUNTAINS THEN
BECOMES NEARLY STATIONARY IN A NORTHEAST/SOUTHWEST ORIENTATION BY
MONDAY AND TUESDAY.  DIURNAL FORCING FOR CONVECTION WILL GIVE WAY TO
CHANCE OF SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS AT ANY TIME OF DAY.  LOWERING
THICKNESSES AND MORE CLOUDINESS WILL RESULT IN DAYTIME TEMPERATURES
CLOSER TO NORMAL.

FCSTID =    6
GSP   71  92  71  89 /  10  10  10  20
AND   72  92  72  89 /  10  10  10  20
CLT   71  93  71  90 /  10  10  10  10
HKY   69  91  69  88 /  10  10  10  20
AVL   67  88  67  85 /  20  10  10  30

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

LGL/RWH
Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 26, 5:55 AM EDT, 10 hours 47 minutes before
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-261200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
555 AM EDT TUE AUG 26 2003

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

.DAY ONE...TODAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED NEXT WEEKEND AND
LABOR DAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

MCAVOY

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 26, 4:05 PM EDT, 37 minutes before
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ034>037-054>057-066>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-270130-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
405 PM EDT TUE AUG 26 2003

...HOT WEATHER WILL CONTINUE WEDNESDAY...

THE HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM THAT HAS BEEN DOMINATING THE WEATHER ACROSS
THE SOUTHEASTERN STATES FOR THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS WILL REMAIN IN
PLACE THROUGH WEDNESDAY.  HIGH TEMPERATURES IN THE LOWER 90S
TOMORROW WILL COMBINE WITH RELATIVE HUMIDITIES IN THE 55 TO 65
PERCENT RANGE TO PRODUCE UNCOMFORTABLE HEAT INDICES.  THE AFTERNOON
HEAT INDEX ACROSS THE PIEDMONT AND FOOTHILLS OF THE WESTERN
CAROLINAS AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA WILL INCH ABOVE THE 100 MARK
AT SOME LOCATIONS.

WARM AND HUMID WEATHER WILL PERSIST INTO THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND... BUT
MORE CLOUDINESS AND SCATTERED SHOWERS BY SATURDAY WILL RESULT IN
HIGH TEMPERATURES CLOSER TO THE NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF THE YEAR.

LGL

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 26, 4:48 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPHaywood42 min
Aug 26, 5:31 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPJackson3 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 2003Every 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.