1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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 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 Charleston, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 2, 1:45 PM EST, 35 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC 245 PM EDT SUN SEP 2 2001 S/WV WILL BE LIFTING OUT OF THE LWR MS VLY TO THE NE THRU MON. BEST FOCUS OF ENERGY WILL REMAIN TO OUR NW AND ACRS THE MOUNTAINS. THE BEST LOBE OF ENERGY WILL SKIRT THE INLAND COUNTIES. FRONT WILL ALSO LIFT N TONIGHT AND MON AND ENTIRE CWA IS BACK IN DEEP MSTR AS FLO BECOMES MAINLY S/SW AT ALL LVLS. PLAN ON CHC PCPN THRU ALL PDS WITH SLIGHTLY HIGHER POPS INLAND TONIGHT AND MON. ALL THE SHORT RANGE MODEL GUID IS RELATIVELY CLOSE ON BOTH POPS AND TEMPS AND HAVE NO REASON TO BE FAR FROM THEM...ALTHOUGH MY TEMPS WILL BE HIGHER THAN AVN NUMBERS FOR THE FIRST 2 PDS. BY EARLY TUE...S/WV WILL BE EXITING THE COAST TO OUR N. NEXT FRONT SHOULD ALSO WEAKEN AND DISSIPATE NEAR THIS RGN LATE WED AND THRU THU...AND NOT ENUF CHG IN AIRMASS TO REMOVE CHC POPS EVEN FOR THE DURATION OF THE EXTNDD PD. BUT WK HIGH PRES AGAIN EXTENDS ACROSS THE SE THEN. ANOTHER FRONT WILL STILL BE WELL TO THE NW ON DAY 7. NEAR OR SLIGHTLY BLO SEASONAL TEMPS LATE THIS WEEK THRU NEXT WEEKEND. CWF...CDFNT STALLING OUT BTWN CHS AND SAV ATTM AND WINDS ACRS ALL COASTAL WATERS NOW BLO 10 KTS. PG WL ONLY GET WEAKER IN THE SHORT TERM AS FNT WAVERS ACRS CSTL WATERS. THEREFORE...WL NEED TO GO WITH VARIABLE WINDS EVERYWHERE FOR TNT. AS SYS TO OUR W MOVS SLOWLY ENE...AND ATTEMPTS TO LIFT FNT BACK TO THE N...WINDS WL BECOME SE MON INTO MON NGT...AND THEN S ON TUE. PG NOT XPCTD TO CHG MUCH THRU THE PD SO LGT WINDS AND WAVES 3 FT OR LESS TO CONT THRU TUE. FCSTID = 25 CHS 72 86 73 88 / 40 40 30 40 SAV 72 87 73 88 / 40 30 30 40 CHL 76 87 77 88 / 40 40 30 40 NBC 73 87 74 88 / 40 40 30 40 RBW 71 86 72 87 / 50 50 30 40 .CHS... GA...NONE. SC...NONE. MJR/WOODWORTH
The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 103 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:21 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A 38 year old man was struck and killed by lightning as he huddled near a beach umbrella that his family was under.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Charleston | 2001-09-02 | 38 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
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, September 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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5268022.