Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

July 2, 2003Laurens County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this tornado warning at Jul 2, 2003, 1:25 AM EDT for Laurens County, South Carolina. It was in force for 50 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: Jul 2, 2003, 1:25 AM EDT (05:25 UTC)
Expired: Jul 2, 2003, 2:15 AM EDT
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Laurens County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 53 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:26 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

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 00:00Z, 5.4 hours before the alert went out and 253 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: 257 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -19 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 769 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 111 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 287 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

522 
WFUS52 KGSP 020525
TORGSP
SCC059-020615-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
124 AM EDT WED JUL 2 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  LAURENS COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 215 AM EDT.

* AT 124 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO 6 MILES NORTHEAST OF
  GREENWOOD...OR ABOUT 6 MILES SOUTHWEST OF WATERLOO...MOVING
  NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  WATERLOO AT 130 AM EDT.
  LAURENS AT 140 AM EDT.
  JOANNA AT 145 AM EDT.
  CLINTON AT 150 AM 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.

TORNADOES WHICH OCCUR AFTER DARK ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS. GET TO A
PLACE OF SAFETY NOW STAY AWAY FROM DOORS AND WINDOWS...GET OUT OF
MOBILE HOMES AND CARS. IF DAMAGE OCCURS NEAR YOU...DO NOT ATTEMPT TO
WALK AROUND IN THE DARK. THERE MAY BE DOWNED POWER LINES.

LAT...LON 3441 8221 3428 8201 3451 8167 3460 8196

$$
LGL/WAJ

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 Jul 1, 10:26 PM EDT, 2 hours 59 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 1, 10:26 PM EDT, 2 hours 59 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1026 PM EDT TUE JUL 1 2003

HEAVY RAIN STILL MOVING THRU THE AREA. THIS WILL CONTINUE THRU THE
NEXT SEVERAL HOURS AS BEST LIFT ASSOCIATED WITH REMNANTS OF BILL
MOVING OVER RIGHT NOW. FLOOD THREAT CONTINUES. UPDATING FCST TO
REMOVE WATCH. HAVE CHANGED THUNDER WORDING TO CHANCE. TEMPS ALREADY
BELOW FCST LOWS IN MOST PLACES. WILL LOWER ACROSS THE NC MTNS AND
WORD AS STEADY ELSEWHERE. A FEW TOUCH UP TO WINDS AS WELL. NO
CHANGES TO LATER PERIODS.

.GSP...
GA...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR ZONES
GAZ010...GAZ017>018...GAZ026...GAZ028>029.

NC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR ZONES
NCZ033>037...NCZ048>059...NCZ062>072...NCZ082.

SC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR ZONES
SCZ001>014...SCZ019.

RWH

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 1, 6:00 AM EDT, 19 hours 25 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-011145-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
600 AM EDT TUE JUL 1 2003

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

.DAY ONE...TODAY

THE REMNANTS OF TROPICAL STORM BILL WILL MOVE NORTHEAST ACROSS THE
DEEP SOUTH TODAY AND THEN MOVE JUST WEST OF THE SOUTHERN
APPALACHIANS BY TONIGHT. HEAVY TROPICAL RAINFALL WILL IMPACT THE
WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA STARTING TODAY. A FLOOD
WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT...AND DETAILS ARE
AVAILABLE IN THE PRODUCT FFAGSP.

INSTABILITY IN THE TROPICAL AIRMASS WILL COMBINE WITH INCREASING
WINDS TO CREATE THE POTENTIAL FOR DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND ISOLATED
TORNADOES TO DEVELOP LATER TODAY AND TONIGHT. FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION ON THE SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL...SEE THE SEVERE WEATHER
OUTLOOK...SPSGSP.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

FLOODING WILL REMAIN POSSIBLE ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH WEDNESDAY
NIGHT...AS MAIN STEM RIVERS RESPOND TO ANY HEAVY RAIN THAT HAS
FALLEN ACROSS THE AREA.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY LIKELY BY LATE TODAY.

HG

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 1, 10:52 PM EDT, 2 hours 33 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
1052 PM EDT TUE JUL 01 2003

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

1001 PM    FRANKLIN                  NC   MUDSLIDE
07/01/03   MACON                          MACON EOC REPORTED
                                          NUMEROUS TREES DOWN ALL
                                          OVER COUNTY...ALONG WITH
                                          SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES.
                                          MOST LIKELY DUE TO
                                          MUDSLIDES.

JRL

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.