Thunderstorm Wind, Rutherford
- When
- May 21, 2:37 PM EST
- Where
- Rutherford County, Forest City
- Measured
- 50 kt (58 mph)
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 35.333, -81.883
Large limbs torn off trees.
Damaging Wind in North Carolina, May 21, 2001
1 thunderstorm wind, 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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- 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 May 21, 1:38 PM EST, 59 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 21, 1:38 PM EST, 59 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 238 PM EDT MON MAY 21 2001 SIGNIFICANT SHORTWAVE REACHES AREA THIS EVENING IN RUC...CROSSING AREA TONIGHT. THIS FEATURE ACCOMPANIED BY UPPER DIVERGENCE...OMEGA AND LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE. CAPES REMAIN HIGH THROUGH THE EVENING... MID LEVELS TO BE SOMEWHAT DRY. DIRECTIONAL SHEAR DECREASES HOWEVER. EXPECT ACTIVITY TO PEAK AROUND 06Z...WITH MOUNTAINS MOST FAVORED. MODELS DIFFER ON FROPA...BUT GENERALLY CLUSTER AROUND AN AFTERNOON FROPA AT GSP AND EARLY EVENING AT CLT. OMEGA/UL DIVERGENCE/LL CONVERGENCE PEAK AGAIN NEAR FROPA...WHEN COLUMN MOIST SFC-400 MB. DRYING FROM W BEGINS TUE AFTERNOON IN MOUNTAINS. DOWNSLOPE DOES NOT LAST LONG ENOUGH TO SAVE LEE OF MOUNTAINS FROM COLD ADVECTION WED. MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH LARGE UPPER LOW REACHES TN LINE THU. MEDIUM RANGE MODELS DIFFER REGARDING SURFACE LOW AND ITS MOISTURE...AS WELL AS ANY COASTAL DEVLOPMENT ON A SECONDARY FRONT DOWNSTREAM. STUCK WITH THE MAIN FACTS FOR EXTENDED: LARGE CLOSED LOW AND MOISTURE TO NW...WITH SOME AMOUNT OF UPSLOPE COMPONENT ON TN LINE. WITH THAT IN MIND...KEPT CLOUDS/SHOWERS/COLD NC MOUNTAINS THU-SUN...WITH PARTLY CLOUDY AND COOL E OF MOUNTAINS...MODERATING TOWARD WEEKEND. ONE EXCEPTION WAS FRI WHEN MODELS BRING SECONDARY FRONT ACROSS FROM W...WHICH HAS CONSISTENCY FROM YESTERDAYS RUNS. CARRYING POPS ALL LOCATIONS FRI. FCSTID = 7 GSP 67 77 52 75 / 60 70 20 10 AND 68 78 53 76 / 60 70 20 10 CLT 66 76 51 74 / 60 70 30 10 HKY 65 75 50 72 / 60 70 10 10 AVL 63 71 46 68 / 70 70 10 20 .GSP... GA...NONE. NC...NONE. SC...NONE.
In the hours before
Local storm report, May 21, 10:59 AM EST, 3 hours 38 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
1159 AM EDT MON MAY 21 2001
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
930 AM 3 W COLUMBUS NC WIND DAMAGE
05/21/01 POLK TREE DOWN. SHERIFF
REPORT.
1030 AM 5 SW COLUMBUS NC WIND DAMAGE
05/21K/01 POLK SHERIFF REPORT: TREE AND
POWER LINE DOWN.
JATSpecial weather statement, May 21, 2:13 PM EST, 24 minutes before
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-220300- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 313 PM EDT MON MAY 21 2001 ...SEVERE WEATHER POSSIBLE TONIGHT AND TUESDAY... AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL CROSS THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS FROM THE WEST TONIGHT. THIS FEATURE WILL REACT WITH A MOIST...UNSTABLE AIR MASS OVER THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA TO PRODUCE THUNDERSTORMS. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP TUESDAY AS A COLD FRONT CROSSES THE REGION. CONDITIONS WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR SOME THUNDERSTORMS TO BECOME SEVERE...PRODUCING DAMAGING WIND...AND LARGE HAIL. SOME LOCATIONS COULD RECEIVE VERY HEAVY RAINFALL AS WELL. SPOTTER GROUPS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO ACTIVATE QUICKLY TONIGHT AND TUESDAY. DISPATCHERS SHOULD ENSURE COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS ARE AWARE OF THIS INFORMATION. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR FAVORITE MEDIA OUTLET FOR THE LATEST UPDATES CONCERNING THIS POTENTIAL SEVERE WEATHER SITUATION. JAT
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Thunderstorm Wind
- Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornadoes and Damaging Wind in Michigan, May 21, 2001
- Tornadoes in Michigan, May 21, 2001
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Ohio, May 21, 2001
- Tornado and Flash Flooding in Ohio, May 21 to 22, 2001
- Flooding in Iowa, May 21 to 28, 2001
- Tornadoes and Hail in Texas, May 21, 2001
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in West Virginia, May 21, 2001
- Dense Fog in Virginia, May 21, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Mississippi, May 21, 2001
- Lightning Strike in Wisconsin, May 21, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Kentucky, May 21, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Tennessee, May 21, 2001
More
Every storm in North Carolina in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, May 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: 5244863.