Name: Damaging Wind in North Carolina, August 18, 2002
Start: 2002-08-18T15:58
End: 2002-08-18T15:58
Location: North Carolina

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: $1,000
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 Aug 18, 2:10 PM EST, 1 hour 48 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 18, 2:10 PM EST, 1 hour 48 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
310 PM EDT SUN AUG 18 2002

AT 230 PM CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY WAS OVER THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN
MOUNTAINS OF NORTH CAROLINA...WILL EXPECT COVERAGE TO INCREASE AND
SPREAD INTO THE REST OF THE CWA THE REST OF THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING. ATMOS IS A LITTLE DRIER THAN DAYS PAST AND WITH LITTLE
UPPER SUPPORT WILL END PRECIP MENTION AT MIDNIGHT. TOMORROW...H5 S/W
MOVES OVER THE MTNS AND AS A RESPONSE LEE TROF DEEPENS TO 1011 MB.
THE RESULT WILL AGAIN BE SCATTERED SH/TS DEVELOPING IN THE AFTERNOON
AND DISSIPATING BY MIDNIGHT. DEEP LEVEL DRY AIR BEGINS TO ENTER THE
FA FROM THE NW BUT WILL MAINTAIN CURRENT 30 POPS AS SURFACE MOISTURE
CONVERGENCE STILL LOOKS DECENT. WEDNESDAY...H5 RIDGE BUILDS OVER THE
CAROLINAS AND DRY AIR MOVES FURTHER SOUTH AS SURFACE HIGH SLIDES
OVER NEW ENGLAND...WILL KEEP SILENT 20 POPS.

NO BIG CHANGES MADE WITH TEMPERATURES FIELDS...WILL TWEAK BASED ON
LATEST MOS GUIDANCE.

DAYS 4-7...BY WED...HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL BUILD INTO THE REGION.
GLOBAL MODEL SHOWS WARM TEMPS ALOFT AND A FAIRLY DRY AIRMASS. WL BE
HARD PRESSED TO SEE ANYTHING OTHER THAN ISLD TSRA IN THE HIGHER
ELEVATIONS...AND WL LEAVE FORECAST DRY. MORE OF THE SAME AN THU.
LOOKS MOSTLY SUNNY AND HOT W/INVERSION LIMITING CONVECTION. BY
FRIDAY THE FLOW BECOMES A LITTLE MORE SWLY...AND PRESUMABLY MORE
MOIST. WL KEEP MTN POPS. FRONT FOR NEXT WEEKEND LOOKS SLOWER ON THE
LATEST GLOBAL...AND HPC PREFERRED THE EVEN SLOWER ENSEMBLE SOLUTION.
THIS MEANS POPS BOTH DAYS AND WARMER THAN THE PREVIOUS
FORECAST...ESPECIALLY FOR SAT.

FCSTID =   16
GSP   69  92  70  91 /  30  30  30  30
AND   70  93  71  90 /  30  30  30  30
CLT   70  94  71  90 /  30  30  30  30
HKY   69  91  70  89 /  30  30  30  30
AVL   64  87  66  85 /  30  40  30  30

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

NED

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 18, 10:40 AM EST, 5 hours 18 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-182200-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1140 AM EDT SUN AUG 18 2002

...ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON...

THIS AFTERNOON SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE WESTERN
CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA AS WEAK DISTURBANCES COMBINE WITH AN
UNSTABLE AIR MASS. DUE TO THE LEVEL OF INSTABILITY IN THE ATMOSPHERE
SOME OF THE STORMS WILL BECOME QUITE STRONG...WITH ONE OR TWO
POSSIBLY REACHING SEVERE LEVELS. THE GREATEST THREAT FROM ANY STORMS
THAT REACH SEVERE LEVELS THIS AFTERNOON WILL BE WIND GUSTS TO OVER
60 MPH AND HAIL TO THE SIZE OF DIMES.

THE PROJECTED MOVEMENT OF THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE A LITTLE QUICKER
THAN THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS...HOWEVER...STORMS MAY REPEATEDLY PASS
OVER THE SAME AREAS AND WILL RESULT IN HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR FAVORITE MEDIA OUTLET FOR
THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION.

NED

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 61 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:56 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Transylvania

When: August 18, 3:58 PM EST
Where: Transylvania County, Brevard
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Property damage: $1,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.233, -82.733

Some trees and powerlines were blown down.

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

More

Every storm in North Carolina in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in North Carolina, August 2002

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: 5313994.