Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

April 21, 2003Abbeville County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this tornado warning at Apr 21, 2003, 5:45 PM EDT for Abbeville County, South Carolina. 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: Apr 21, 2003, 5:45 PM EDT (21:45 UTC)
Expired: Apr 21, 2003, 6:30 PM EDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Abbeville County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 82 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:45 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 tornado 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, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 210 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: 102 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -105 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 711 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 99 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 93 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

137 
WFUS52 KGSP 212145
TORGSP
SCC001-212230-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
545 PM EDT MON APR 21 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN ABBEVILLE COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 630 PM EDT.

* AT 545 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO 10 MILES WEST OF
  ABBEVILLE...OR ABOUT 5 MILES NORTHEAST OF CALHOUN FALLS...MOVING
  EAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  ABBEVILLE AT 600 PM EDT.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IN A HOME OR
BUSINESS IS AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE. STAY AWAY
FROM DOORS AND WINDOWS.

LAT...LON 3424 8263 3407 8262 3405 8229 3417 8224
          3426 8225

$$

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado 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 tornado warning went out at Apr 21, 3:04 PM EDT, 2 hours 41 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 21, 3:04 PM EDT, 2 hours 41 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
304 PM EDT MON APR 21 2003

LEADING AREA OF SHRA AND EMBEDDED TSRA MOVING OVER UPSTATE AND NC
PIEDMONT ATTM. ATMOS BECOMING MORE UNSTABLE OVER MTNS AND SRN
SECTIONS OF CWFA. SPC HAS OUTLOOKED NC MTNS FOR CONTINUED
POSSIBILITY OF ISOLATED SVR LATE THIS AFTERNOON BEFORE FROPA. WILL
LEAVE CHC POP THERE AND GO LIKELY POP EARLY GA/SC AND NC PIEDMONT.
LOWS TONIGHT WARMER ERN SECTIONS.

AFTER SOME WRAP AROUND CLOUDS AND POSSIBLY A SPRINKLE OR TWO NRN
MTNS EARLY TUE...TRANQUIL WX PATTERN SETS UP THRU WED NITE. DRY HIGH
PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE AREA. HIGHS NEAR OR JUST BELOW NORMAL WITH
BELOW NORMAL LOWS. IN FACT...WILL NEED TO WATCH FOR FROST NC MTNS
WED NITE. LIKELY TOO MUCH WIND TUE NITE...BUT WILL NEED TO KEEP IN
MIND.

MOISTURE RETURNS THU AHEAD OF THE NEXT WX SYSTEM THAT MOVES THRU THE
AREA SATURDAY. MDLS HINTING AT POSSIBLE PRECIP LATE THU/THU NITE.
THIS IS FASTER THAN PREVIOUS RUNS. WILL FOLLOW HPC LEAD LEAVE DRY
FOR NOW...CONFINING POPS TO FRI/SAT. COOL TEMPS DURING THE PRECIP
THEN WARMING TREND SUN/MON.

FCSTID =   81
GSP   52  72  43  71 /  40   0   0   0
AND   52  72  45  72 /  40   0   0   0
CLT   54  72  45  71 /  60   0   0   0
HKY   52  69  43  69 /  30   0   0   0
AVL   48  66  39  67 /  30  10   0   0

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

RWH

Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 21, 5:54 AM EDT, 11 hours 51 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-211200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
554 AM EDT MON APR 21 2003

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

.DAY ONE...TODAY

AREAS OF DENSE FOG WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE MID MORNING ACROSS THE
AREA TO THE SOUTH OF A LINE FROM CARNESVILLE TO HARTWELL...
ANDERSON...AND CLINTON. A DENSE FOG ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL
10 AM. FOR MORE INFORMATION...SEE THE NPWGSP PRODUCT ISSUED AT 343
AM.

THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION TODAY AHEAD OF A COLD
FRONT. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS GENERALLY TO
THE NORTH OF A LINE FROM TAYLORSVILLE TO STATESVILLE AND
SALISBURY...BUT A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ELSEWHERE
ACROSS THE REGION. FOR MORE DETAILS...SEE THE SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
(SPSGSP) ISSUED AT 430 AM.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED.

MOORE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 21, 5:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Abbeville, Anderson	40 min
Apr 21, 5:57 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Abbeville	3 hr
Apr 21, 6:05 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Greenwood	40 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Carolina, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes 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.