Alert archive / Georgia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 381, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

September 22, 2003Habersham County, Georgia

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 22, 2003, 4:45 PM EDT for Habersham County, Georgia. It was in force for 45 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: Sep 22, 2003, 4:45 PM EDT (20:45 UTC)
Expired: Sep 22, 2003, 5:30 PM EDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Habersham County, GA

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:47 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, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 167 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: 317 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 468 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 135 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 157 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS52 KGSP 222045
SVRGSP
GAC137-222130-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
445 PM EDT MON SEP 22 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  HABERSHAM COUNTY IN NORTHEAST GEORGIA

* UNTIL 530 PM EDT

* AT 443 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 4 MILES WEST OF CLARKESVILLE...OR ABOUT 3 MILES
  NORTHWEST OF DEMOREST...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  CLARKESVILLE AT 450 PM EDT.
  HOLLYWOOD AT 500 PM EDT.
  TURNERVILLE AT 505 PM EDT.

PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM SHOULD BE ALERT FOR 
DAMAGING WINDS. FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN CAN OCCUR 
WITH ANY THUNDERSTORM.

LAT...LON 3470 8366 3449 8357 3448 8347 3470 8334
          3479 8357

$$
MCAVOY

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 Sep 22, 3:20 PM EDT, 1 hour 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 22, 3:20 PM EDT, 1 hour 25 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
320 PM EDT MON SEP 22 2003

COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH THE AREA TONIGHT. SHOWERS AND A FEW TSRA
WILL MOVE THRU AS WELL. CANNOT RULE OUT ISOLATED SEVERE STORM GIVEN
STRONG WIND FIELDS ALOFT. WILL KEEP CATEGORICAL POP AND TREND PRECIP
ENDING FROM WEST TO EAST OVERNIGHT. WARMED UP MINS A LITTLE GIVEN
TIMING.

PRECIP SHOULD END BY 12Z TUE AS DRY HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN.
THICKNESSES HOLDING UP A LITTLE AND FULL SUN SO ACCEPTED SLIGHTLY
WARMER GUIDANCE MAXES. NEAR NORMAL TEMPS WED AS THICKNESSES FALL.

DRY FRONTAL SYSTEM MOVES THRU THURSDAY WITH NEARLY STEADY TEMPS.
MDLS TRENDING WETTER SAT/SUN AS LOW MOVES NORTHEAST NEAR ATLANTIC
COAST. DECENT UPGLIDE AND MOISTURE DEVELOP AND CONTINUES UNTIL LOW
PULLS OUT LATE SUNDAY. HAVE ADDED CHC RAIN WITH WARMER LOWS AND
COOLER HIGHS DURING THIS TIME. COOL DRY HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS BACK IN
MONDAY.

FCSTID = 81

GSP 64 84 56 80 / 99 10 00 00
AND 64 84 56 81 / 99 10 00 00
CLT 64 84 56 80 / 99 10 00 00
HKY 62 82 53 79 / 99 10 00 00
AVL 58 78 49 77 / 99 10 00 00

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

RWH

Hazardous weather outlook, Sep 22, 6:00 AM EDT, 10 hours 45 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
600 AM EDT MON SEP 22 2003

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

.DAY ONE...TODAY

THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AHEAD AND ALONG A COLD FRONT
APPROACHING FROM THE WEST. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK THAT SOME OF THE
THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS THIS AFTERNOON AND
TONIGHT...MAINLY ACROSS THE FOOTHILLS AND PIEDMONT. THERE IS ENOUGH
WIND SHEAR IN THE LOWER ATMOSPHERE THAT A TORNADO WILL ALSO BE
POSSIBLE. FOR MORE INFORMATION...SEE THE SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
(SPSGSP) ISSUED AT 507 AM. HEAVY RAIN IS ALSO POSSIBLE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED TODAY AND TONIGHT.

MOORE

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 22, 4:40 PM EDT, 5 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-SCZ001-002-004-005-010-222130-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
440 PM EDT MON SEP 22 2003

...HEAVY RAIN SHOWERS COULD PRODUCE ISOLATED STRONG WIND GUSTS
ACROSS EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA AND THE WESTERN UPSTATE...

AT 430 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED AN AREA OF
HEAVY RAIN SHOWERS MOVING INTO EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA. THROUGH
530 PM...THESE SHOWERS WILL AFFECT AREAS FROM CLAYTON TO WALHALLA...
SOUTH TO CLARKESVILLE...TOCCOA...AND CARNESVILLE. THE MAIN THREAT
WITH THESE SHOWERS WILL BE HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS IN EXCESS OF ONE
INCH PER HOUR. HOWEVER...THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT SOME OF THESE
SHOWERS COULD PRODUCE ISOLATED...BRIEF PERIODS OF DAMAGING WIND GUSTS
IN EXCESS OF 50 MPH. WIND GUSTS OF THIS MAGNITUDE COULD BLOW DOWN
POWER LINES...AS WELL AS SMALL TREES AND LARGE TREE BRANCHES.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

LANE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 22, 5:55 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Habersham	3 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Georgia, 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.