North Carolina, 2001

Tornado in North Carolina, July 4, 2001

July 4, 2001 · NWS GSP · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$16,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at Jul 4, 2:30 PM EST, 5 hours 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 4, 2:30 PM EST, 5 hours 8 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
330 PM EDT WED JUL 4 2001

CONVECTION MAINLY SCATTERED OVER CWFA FOR NOW. SHORT WAVE MOVING
THRU UPPER TROF HELPING TO SET UP SQUALL LINE TO OUR NORTHWEST. THIS
LINE WILL MOVE INTO THE MTNS BY EVENING. SVR TSRA POSSIBLE WITH THE
LINE. OTHER STRONG CONVECTION FORMING ALONG LEE TROF OVER FOOTHILLS.
ISOLATED SVR TSRA POSSIBLE HERE AS WELL. WILL USE AT LEAST LIKELY
POPS ALL AREAS THIS EVENING AS CONVECTION WILL BECOME MORE NUMEROUS.

ATMOS DRIES OUT A LITTLE WITH WLY FLOW THU. HOWEVER ANOTHER SHORT
WAVE/THERMAL TROF AND SFC FNT MOVE THRU. SCT AFT CONVECTION
POSSIBLE...BUT MUCH LESS COVERAGE THAN TODAY. 30 POP SHOULD SUFFICE.

HIGHS VARY ONLY A LITTLE AS LOW LEVEL THICKNESSES REMAIN NEARLY THE
SAME. HOWEVER LOWS THU AND FRI NITES SHOULD BE LOWER GIVEN CLEAR
SKIES AND LOWER DEW POINTS.

GSP   70  89  65  90 /  50  30   0   0
AND   70  89  65  90 /  50  30   0   0
CLT   70  89  65  88 /  50  30   0   0
HKY   67  87  63  87 /  50  30   0   0
AVL   65  86  60  85 /  50  30   0   0

.GSP...
GA...NONE.
NC...NONE.
SC...NONE.

RWH

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 4, 5:19 PM EST, 2 hours 19 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
619 PM EDT WED JUL 04 2001

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

610 PM     RUTHERFORDTON             NC   WIND DAMAGE
07/04/01   RUTHERFORD                     COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS
                                          REPORTED TREES BLOWN DOWN
                                          IN/ RUTHERFORDTON AND ALSO
                                          ONE IN LAKE LURE.

JONES
Local storm report, Jul 4, 5:35 PM EST, 2 hours 3 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
635 PM EDT WED JUL 04 2001

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

625 PM     FOREST CITY               NC   WIND DAMAGE
07/04/01   RUTHERFORD                     NUMEROUS TREES AND LINES
                                          DOWN.  POWER POLES
                                          SNAPPED IN HALF.  CAR
                                          POSSIBLY TRAPPED UNDER
                                          LINES.  URBAN FLOODING.

JONES
Local storm report, Jul 4, 5:51 PM EST, 1 hour 47 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
651 PM EDT WED JUL 04 2001

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

647 PM     6 N ASHEVILLE             NC   NON TSTM WINDS
07/04/01   BUNCOMBE                       EOC REPORTED TREES DOWN
                                          IN WEAVERVILLE.

JAT
Local storm report, Jul 4, 6:06 PM EST, 1 hour 32 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
706 PM EDT WED JUL 04 2001

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

630 PM     KEOWEE KEY                SC   WIND DAMAGE
07/04/01   OCONEE                         DAMAGING WINDS OCCURRED
                                          IN EASTERN HALF OF COUNTY
                                          FROM ABOUT 615 PM TO 645
                                          PM.  NUMEROUS TREES AND
                                          LINES DOWN.

JONES
Special weather statement, Jul 4, 6:35 PM EST, 1 hour 3 minutes before
NCZ033>035-048>055-058-059-062>065-050030-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
735 PM EDT WED JUL 4 2001

THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES HAVE BEEN CLEARED FROM SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WATCH NUMBER 508...

IN THE PIEDMONT OF NORTH CAROLINA...
ALEXANDER.

IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA...
JACKSON...MACON...CALDWELL...SWAIN...MADISON...HAYWOOD...MITCHELL...
MCDOWELL...AVERY...GRAHAM...YANCEY...TRANSYLVANIA...BUNCOMBE...
HENDERSON AND BURKE.

THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER HAS MOVED OUT OF THESE COUNTIES.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR FAVORITE MEDIA OUTLET FOR
THE LATEST UPDATES CONCERNING THIS SEVERE WEATHER SITUATION.

DELGXADO
Local storm report, Jul 4, 7:35 PM EST, 3 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
835 PM EDT WED JUL 04 2001

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LO5CATION....

817 PM     14 E ANDERSON             SC   58 MPH
07/04/01   ANDERSON                       SPOTTER MEASURED WIND.

JAT

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:37 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Union

When
July 4, 7:38 PM EST
Where
Union County, 8 mi NE of Monroe
Rating
F0
Path length
0.2 mi
Path width
0.1 yd
Property damage
$16,000
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
35.067, -80.467

A "gustnado" formed along a gust front ahead of a line of thunderstorms. The small tornado destroyed a 70 X 70 barn by lifting its roof and carrying it 100 yards and dropping it to the ground. A refrigerator inside the barn had its door removed and a large post, buried three feet into the ground, was pulled out and carried about 100 yards. The vortex lifted briefly, then carved a 10-foot wide path through soybean fields.

What these are

Tornado
A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in North Carolina in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for North Carolina, 2001Warnings in North Carolina, July 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5261061.