Drought in South Carolina, April 1 to 30, 2001

Name: Drought in South Carolina, April 1 to 30, 2001
Start: 2001-04-01T00:00
End: 2001-04-30T23:59
Location: South Carolina

April 1 to 30, 2001 · NWS GSP · 15 events in 15 counties and zones

During the month, the rainfall deficit at Greenville Spartanburg Airport reached 40 inches since July 1998. Wells continued to go dry.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 8 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 15

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 happened

The episode as NWS GSP wrote it up.

During the month, the rainfall deficit at Greenville Spartanburg Airport reached 40 inches since July 1998. Wells continued to go dry. March rainfall helped bring up some of the lakes and rivers during the first part of April, but by the end of the month, dry conditions had largely returned.

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 Mar 31, 9:35 PM EST, 2 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 31, 9:35 PM EST, 2 hours 25 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
935 PM EST SAT MAR 31 2001

ONLY CHANGES I PLAN TO MAKE TO THE FIRST PERIOD IS TO RAISE MINS A
COUPLE DEGREES OVER THE UPSTATE AND SOUTHERN NC PIEDMONT AND
FOOTHILLS...AND WL ALSO GO PARTLY CLOUDY RATHER THAN MOSTLY CLOUDY
OVER THE UPSTATE.

THINGS ARE LOOKING RATHER INTERESTING IN THE 12-15Z TIME FRAME.
STRONG VORT DIVES ACROSS THE REGION. AREA OF 8 DEG C 500-700 MB
LAPSE RATES CURRENTLY OVER SRN MO MOVES INTO THE WRN ZONES AT 12Z.
WHILE THE LATEST RUN OF THE MESO-ETA IS ONLY GENERATING PCPN AS FAR
S AS AVL...THE RUC HAS PCPN WELL INTO NRN GA BY 12Z. AM A LITTLE
CONCERNED THAT ELEVATED CONVECTION COULD FIRE IN AREA OF STRONG H5
PVA AS THE VORT SWINGS THROUGH. COUPLE THIS W/SNOW LEVELS FALLING TO
AROUND 4 KT...AND THERE MIGHT BE A BRIEF BUT HEAVY SHOT OF
THUNDERSNOW FOR SOME OF THE MTNS...AND MAYBE A FEW TSRA FURTHER E AS
WELL. WL PASS THIS ON TO THE MIDNIGHT SHIFT..BUT WON/T MAKE NAY
CHANGES ATTM.

FCSTID = 14
GSP   48  62  34  65 /  30  40   0   0
AND   47  63  33  67 /  30  40   0   0
CLT   46  61  32  66 /  30  50   0   0
HKY   46  59  32  63 /  40  60   0   0
AVL   42  54  30  60 /  40  50  10   0

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

MCAVOY

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

15 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, Abbeville

When: April 1, 12:00 AM EST to April 30, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Abbeville forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 34.223, -82.459 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Anderson

When: April 1, 12:00 AM EST to April 30, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Anderson forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 34.519, -82.638 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Cherokee

When: April 1, 12:00 AM EST to April 30, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Cherokee forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 35.048, -81.620 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Chester

When: April 1, 12:00 AM EST to April 30, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Chester forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 34.692, -81.159 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Greenwood

When: April 1, 12:00 AM EST to April 30, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Greenwood forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 34.154, -82.126 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Laurens

When: April 1, 12:00 AM EST to April 30, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Laurens forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 34.484, -82.006 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Northern Greenville

When: April 1, 12:00 AM EST to April 30, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Northern Greenville forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Drought, Northern Oconee

When: April 1, 12:00 AM EST to April 30, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Northern Oconee forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Drought, Northern Pickens

When: April 1, 12:00 AM EST to April 30, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Northern Pickens forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Drought, Southern Greenville

When: April 1, 12:00 AM EST to April 30, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Southern Greenville forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Drought, Southern Oconee

When: April 1, 12:00 AM EST to April 30, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Southern Oconee forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Drought, Southern Pickens

When: April 1, 12:00 AM EST to April 30, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Southern Pickens forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Drought, Spartanburg

When: April 1, 12:00 AM EST to April 30, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Spartanburg forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

Drought, Union

When: April 1, 12:00 AM EST to April 30, 11:59 PM EST
Where: Union forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 34.689, -81.619 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, York

When: April 1, 12:00 AM EST to April 30, 11:59 PM EST
Where: York forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 34.975, -81.184 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Drought: A drought reaching severe (D2) or worse on the US Drought Monitor, or with notable impacts.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in South Carolina in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in South Carolina, April 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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5241308, 5241309, 5241310, 5241311, 5241312, 5241313, 5241314, 5241315, 5241316, 5241317, 5241318, 5241319, 5241320, 5241321, 5241322.