Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

May 3, 2003Oconee County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this tornado warning at May 3, 2003, 5:57 PM EDT for Oconee County, South Carolina. It was in force for 33 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: May 3, 2003, 5:57 PM EDT (21:57 UTC)
Expired: May 3, 2003, 6:30 PM EDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Oconee County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 69 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:56 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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 209 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: 550 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -226 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 888 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 83 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 77 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

154 
WFUS52 KGSP 032157
TORGSP
SCC073-032230-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
556 PM EDT SAT MAY 3 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN OCONEE COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 630 PM EDT.

* AT 556 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO 6 MILES NORTHEAST OF
  WALHALLA...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  SENECA AT 605 PM EDT.
  TOWNVILLE AT 625 PM EDT.

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR PICKENS COUNTY CONTINUES UNTIL 
630 PM EDT AS WELL.

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 3483 8309 3492 8291 3474 8290 3463 8286
          3455 8292

$$

RWH/JT

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 3, 4:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Greenville	49 min
May 3, 5:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Oconee, Pickens	66 min
May 3, 5:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Greenville	45 min
May 3, 5:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Spartanburg	38 min
May 3, 6:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Anderson, Pickens	54 min
May 3, 6:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Spartanburg	67 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.