Low pressure developed off the mid-Atlantic and steadily strengthened as it crept northward up the Atlantic seaboard. As the storm grew stronger, the pressure gradient increase over the region resulted in very high winds.
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.
The episode as NWS GSP wrote it up.
Low pressure developed off the mid-Atlantic and steadily strengthened as it crept northward up the Atlantic seaboard. As the storm grew stronger, the pressure gradient increase over the region resulted in very high winds.
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 5, 9:35 PM EST, 2 hours 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
935 PM EST MON MAR 5 2001
SNOW SHOWERS ACCUMULATING ACROSS MANY LOCALES WITHIN WARNING AREA
& EXPECT THIS TREND TO CONTINUE OVERNIGHT AS POLAR VORTEX ROTATES
SOUTHEAST...AND LLVL NW FLOW/RH & CAA CONTINUE...IF NOT
INCREASE SOME. BASED ON 18Z MESOETA TRENDS OF TIGHTENING
GRADIENT...AN INCREASE IN 850 MB FLOW & STRONG CAA...WILL
RATCHET UPWARD THE NC MTNS TO A WIND ADVISORY OVERNIGHT.
WILL ALSO GO AHEAD & LOWER MINS ACRS NORTHERN NC MTNS WITH
NEWLAND CURRENTLY 20F. THIS WILL ALSO PROBABLY PRODUCE WIND
CHILL INDEX VALUES IN ADVISORY CATEGORY...BUT IN LIEU OF
ISSUING ANOTHER NPW...WITH ADD MENTION IN CURRENT WSW.
FCSTID = 55
GSP 27 43 26 52 / 0 10 10 10
AND 27 42 26 52 / 0 10 10 10
CLT 27 40 26 51 / 0 10 10 10
HKY 26 38 25 48 / 0 20 20 10
AVL 24 31 22 43 / 70 70 40 10
.GSP...
GA...WIND ADVISORY FOR AREA LAKES GAZ010-017.
NC...WINTER STORM WARNING THROUGH TUESDAY NCZ033-048>050
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY THROUGH TUESDAY NCZ051>053-058-059
WIND ADVISORY FOR AREA LAKES NCZ062>065
HIGH WIND WATCH TUESDAY NCZ048>053-058-059-062>065.
WIND ADVISORY NCZ048>053-058-059-062>065.
SC...WIND ADVISORY FOR AREA LAKES SCZ001>003.3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Damaging northwest winds blew for many hours through the mountains, blowing down numerous trees and power lines. Several roofs were blown off buildings and numerous business signs were destroyed. Power disruptions lasted for many days in some locations. Many described this event as the worst wind storm since March 1993.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Carolina in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in South Carolina, March 2001
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: 5237801, 5237802, 5237803.