Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200)
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Diverted
Weather
We were arriving into GSP from the northwest. Our weather radar was painting a few small but severe thunderstorms (steep color gradients) between our location and the west side of the approach to land north at GSP. The storms were moving north. One strong cell was immediately to the west of the final approach. The east side of the airport and approach appeared to be free of the small thunderstorms. I requested deviations to the east to clear the area of thunderstorms by passing north of the field by 20 miles or so. We were at 7000 ft at this time and experiencing moderate turbulence with +/- 10-15 kt airspeed changes. During the deviation to the east we received a couple of severe turbulence encounters. We were on the autopilot yet the aircraft rolled 30 degrees right and then 35-40 degrees left in 1-1.5 seconds. We extended our diversion further east; eventually being handed off to Charlotte (CLT) approach. During the diversion we were able to pick up the northern edge of the thunderstorms on the extreme right side of the weather radar. The colors displayed were levels 4 (red) and 5 (magenta). The advancing storms were too close to maneuver to get a better view of the area to the west and southwest towards GSP. CLT informed us that the weather was still approaching from the south and they were planning on closing the arrivals down after the last few airplanes landed. CLT approach had weather radar capability and they recommended we divert to ZZZ as it was in the clear still.ZZZ was closer than our filed alternate at this point. We coordinated with dispatch; our FA and the cabin our intent to divert to ZZZ. The FA informed us there were no injuries and everyone was ok in the cabin. We diverted to ZZZ for refueling and to let the weather pass the area.
CRJ-200 Captain reported deviating to an alternate airport after encountering weather at GSP.