Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2004

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 157, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

August 2, 2004Polk County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 2, 2004, 7:32 PM EDT for Polk County, North Carolina. It was in force for 43 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: Aug 2, 2004, 7:32 PM EDT (23:32 UTC)
Expired: Aug 2, 2004, 8:15 PM EDT
In force: 43 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Polk County, NC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 42 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:32 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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 234 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: 776 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 602 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 14 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 26 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS52 KGSP 022332
SVRGSP
NCC149-030015-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
732 PM EDT MON AUG 2 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  POLK COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 815 PM EDT

* AT 727 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING PENNY SIZE HAIL...AND
  DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH.  THIS STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR   
  COLUMBUS...AND MOVING SOUTHWEST AT 20 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  SALUDA AROUND 750 PM EDT

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

LAT...LON 3528 8234 3535 8228 3538 8227 3526 8214
      3520 8222 3520 8230 3519 8231 3519 8233
      3520 8235

$$

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 Aug 2, 6:00 PM EDT, 1 hour 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 2, 6:00 PM EDT, 1 hour 32 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
600 PM EDT MON AUG 2 2004

.SHORT TERM (TONIGHT)...
MTN COVERAGE HAS BEEN PLENTIFUL THIS EVENING WITH NNW UPSLOPE FLOW
INTO THE HIGHER TERRAIN. COMBINATION OF UPSLOPE AND OUTFLOW WINDS
NOW DRIVING COVERAGE FARTHER S ACROSS THE MTN TERRAIN AND WILL
UPDATE TO RAISE POPS.
&&

.LONG TERM (TUESDAY THROUGH MONDAY)...
DRIER AND COOLER HIGH PRESSURE MOVES INTO THE AREA FRIDAY AND
REMAINS THRU SUNDAY. DRY FCST THIS PERIOD AS PRECIP CHCS MINIMAL.
TEMPS WILL VARY FROM JUST BELOW NORMAL TO AROUND 5 DEGREES BELOW
NORMAL EACH DAY.
&&

.AVIATION...
SHRA/TSRA ARE SCATTERED ACROSS THE CWA ATTM. HOWEVER...ONLY REAL
CONCENTRATED AREAS AT TAF TIME WERE ALONG THE ESCARPMENT. CAN/T FIND
ANY SIG SFC CONVERGENCE TO GIVE ME CONFIDENCE TO PREDICT WHERE PCPN
MIGHT BECOME MORE CONCENTRATED THE NEXT 4 TO 6 HRS...SO HAVE GONE
WITH VCTS AND CB WORDING IN TAFS WHILE INCLUDING NO TEMPO GROUPS. WL
UPDATE TAFS AS IT BECOMES APPARENT THAT PCPN WL ACTUALLY OCCUR AT A
SITE. IT WAS THIS OR GO WITH 4 HR TEMPO GROUPS EVERYWHERE. PREVIOUS
SHIFT BROUGHT MVFR CIGS AND VSBYS TO ALL TAF SITES AGAIN TNGT. WITH
FLOW BECOMING A LITTLE MORE DOWNSLOPE AS TROPICAL CYCLONE MOVES UP
THE COAST...THERE WL BE MORE INHIBITION THAN THERE HAS BEEN FOR A
WHILE. HOWEVER...MAV MOS INSISTS ON BRINGING IN LOW CIGS...AND
W/VERY HIGH SFC DWPTS...WL PLAY ONE MORE NGHT OF LOW CLOUDS AND
VSBYS.
&&

.GSP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
GA...NONE.
NC...NONE.
SC...NONE.
&&

SHORT TERM...HG
AVIATION...
LONG TERM...

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 2, 5:13 AM EDT, 14 hours 19 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
513 AM EDT MON AUG 2 2004

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-030912-
ABBEVILLE SC-ALEXANDER NC-ANDERSON SC-AVERY NC-BUNCOMBE NC-BURKE NC-
CABARRUS NC-CALDWELL NC-CATAWBA NC-CHEROKEE SC-CHESTER SC-
CLEVELAND NC-DAVIE NC-ELBERT GA-FRANKLIN GA-GASTON NC-GRAHAM NC-
GREATER GREENVILLE SC-GREATER OCONEE SC-GREATER PICKENS SC-
GREENVILLE MOUNTAINS SC-GREENWOOD SC-HABERSHAM GA-HART GA-HAYWOOD NC-
HENDERSON NC-IREDELL NC-LAURENS SC-LINCOLN NC-MACON NC-MADISON NC-
MCDOWELL NC-MECKLENBURG NC-MITCHELL NC-NORTHERN JACKSON NC-
OCONEE MOUNTAINS SC-PICKENS MOUNTAINS SC-POLK NC-RABUN GA-ROWAN NC-
RUTHERFORD NC-SOUTHERN JACKSON NC-SPARTANBURG SC-STEPHENS GA-
SWAIN NC-TRANSYLVANIA NC-UNION SC-UNION NC-YANCEY NC-YORK SC-
513 AM EDT MON AUG 2 2004

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

.DAY ONE...
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER THE REGION
TODAY. THE CHANCES FOR RAINFALL WILL INCREASE THIS AFTERNOON AS BANDS
OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS FROM TROPICAL STORM ALEX ROTATE INTO THE
WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA. THESE SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY PRODUCE PERIODS OF MODERATE TO HEAVY
RAINFALL. OTHERWISE...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...
ISOLATED TO SCATTERED MOUNTAIN THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP EACH
AFTERNOON AND EVENING...TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. A CLUSTER OF
THUNDERSTORMS TRAVELING ALONG A COLD FRONT MAY AFFECT THE MOUNTAINS
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT
THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

NED

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 2, 2:37 PM EDT, 4 hours 55 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
237 PM EDT MON AUG 02 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0215 PM     TSTM WND DMG     6 W CLAYTON             34.88N 83.51W
08/02/2004                   RABUN              GA   COUNTY OFFICIAL

            TREES DOWN ON HIGHWAY 76 WEST OF CLAYTON. ONE TREE DOWN
            ON A VAN. NOT SURE OF INJURIES.

&&

MCAVOY

Special weather statement, Aug 2, 4:25 PM EDT, 3 hours 7 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
425 PM EDT MON AUG 2 2004

GAZ010-017-NCZ033-048>053-058-059-062>065-SCZ001>003-022300-
AVERY NC-BUNCOMBE NC-GRAHAM NC-GREENVILLE MOUNTAINS SC-HABERSHAM GA-
HAYWOOD NC-HENDERSON NC-MACON NC-MADISON NC-MITCHELL NC-
NORTHERN JACKSON NC-OCONEE MOUNTAINS SC-PICKENS MOUNTAINS SC-
RABUN GA-SOUTHERN JACKSON NC-SWAIN NC-TRANSYLVANIA NC-YANCEY NC-
425 PM EDT MON AUG 2 2004

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL...

STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL HAVE DEVELOPED ACROSS
THE MOUNTAINS LATE THIS AFTERNOON.  THE STORMS WERE SCATTERED...AND
WERE MOST NUMEROUS ALONG THE TENNESSEE BORDER WITH NORTH CAROLINA.
AN ISOLATED SEVERE STORM EARLIER THIS AFTERNOON BLEW DOWN SOME TREES
IN RABUN COUNTY GEORGIA.

THE STORMS WERE MOVING VERY SLOWLY...AND WERE DUMPING HEAVY RAINFALL
OVER SMALL AREAS.  RADAR HAS ESTIMATED 2 TO 2.5 INCHES OF RAINFALL
SINCE ABOUT 3 PM IN A SMALL AREA OF NORTHEAST MADISON COUNTY AND
NORTHWEST HAYWOOD COUNTY IN NORTH CAROLINA.

THE STORMS WILL CONTINUE TO BRING THREATS OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL
WITH LOCAL FLOODING...STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS...AND POSSIBLY EVEN
ISOLATED DAMAGING WIND GUSTS...AND INTENSE CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING
THROUGH MUCH OF THE EVENING.

LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLY SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OR FLASH
FLOODING WARNINGS.

JONES

Local storm report, Aug 2, 5:32 PM EDT, 2 hours before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
532 PM EDT MON AUG 02 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0529 PM     HAIL             1 W WAYNESVILLE         35.48N 83.02W
08/02/2004  1.25 INCH        HAYWOOD            NC   TRAINED SPOTTER

            SPOTTER REPORTS A FEW HALF DOLLAR HAILSTONES WITH MOSTLY
            PEA SIZE HAIL.

&&

HG

Local storm report, Aug 2, 5:59 PM EDT, 1 hour 33 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
559 PM EDT MON AUG 02 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0540 PM     TSTM WND DMG     CANTON                  35.55N 82.84W
08/02/2004                   HAYWOOD            NC   FIRE DEPT/RESCUE

            HAYWOOD COUNTY RESCUE SQUAD REPORTS TREES BLOWN DOWN.

&&

HG

Local storm report, Aug 2, 6:57 PM EDT, 35 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
657 PM EDT MON AUG 02 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0610 PM     TSTM WND DMG     5 ENE HOT SPRINGS       35.92N 82.75W
08/02/2004                   MADISON            NC   COUNTY OFFICIAL

            COUNTY REPORTS SEVERAL TREES BLOWN DOWN ALONG HIGHWAY
            208.

&&

HG

Local storm report, Aug 2, 7:21 PM EDT, 11 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
721 PM EDT MON AUG 02 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0640 PM     TSTM WND DMG     11 WSW CLAYTON          34.82N 83.58W
08/02/2004                   RABUN              GA   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            TREE DOWN ON POWER LINE ALONG WEST WILDCAT ROAD.

&&

CSH

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 2, 5:23 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Haywood	52 min
Aug 2, 6:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Macon	44 min
Aug 2, 6:17 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Madison	4 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 2004 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2004

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.