Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 12, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

July 12, 2003Gaston County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this tornado warning at Jul 12, 2003, 8:48 PM EDT for Gaston County, North Carolina. It was in force for 42 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 12, 2003, 8:48 PM EDT (00:48 UTC)
Expired: Jul 12, 2003, 9:30 PM EDT
In force: 42 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Gaston County, NC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 101 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:48 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 00:00Z, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 149 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: 293 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1730 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 23 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 54 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

789 
WFUS52 KGSP 130048
TORGSP
NCC071-130130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
846 PM EDT SAT JUL 12 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  GASTON COUNTY IN THE PIEDMONT OF NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 930 PM EDT.

* AT 846 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A         
  TORNADO 6 MILES NORTHEAST OF SHELBY...OR ABOUT 5 MILES SOUTHWEST   
  OF CHERRYVILLE...MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  CHERRYVILLE AT 850 PM.
  BESSEMER CITY AT 905 PM.
  HIGH SHOALS AT 910 PM.
  DALLAS AT 915 PM.
  GASTONIA AT 920 PM.

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 3525 8106 3517 8107 3521 8132 3526 8133
          3529 8136 3532 8136 3542 8146 3540 8100

$$

WAJ/JRL

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 12, 8:30 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Cleveland	45 min
Jul 12, 8:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Rutherford	39 min
Jul 12, 9:43 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	McDowell	2 hr
Jul 12, 9:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Gaston	46 min
Jul 12, 9:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	McDowell, Rutherford	65 min
Jul 12, 10:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Mecklenburg	58 min
Jul 12, 10:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Lincoln	59 min
Jul 12, 10:27 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Rutherford	3 hr
Jul 12, 10:57 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Cleveland	48 min
Jul 12, 11:00 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Cleveland, Lincoln	3 hr
Jul 12, 11:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Gaston	40 min
Jul 12, 11:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Mecklenburg	40 min
Jul 13, 12:01 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Burke	44 min
Jul 13, 1:35 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Union	3 hr
Jul 13, 1:46 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Union	3 hr
Jul 13, 3:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Burke, Caldwell	47 min
Jul 13, 4:44 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Union	3 hr
Jul 13, 5:14 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Burke	3 hr
Jul 13, 5:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Mecklenburg, Union	56 min
Jul 13, 5:28 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Buncombe	3 hr
Jul 13, 7:57 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Graham	48 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North 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.