1 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 Columbia, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 18, 12:58 PM EST, 7 hours 2 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 158 PM EDT SUN AUG 18 2002 DISC: 17Z SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS WEAK HIGH PRESSURE ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST. WEAK TROUGH ACROSS THE EASTERN CAROLINAS. SATELLITE SHOWS CU DEVELOPING ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON. ALREADY A FEW SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE STATE AND ALSO TO OUR WEST ACROSS NORTHERN GEORGIA. BOTH AVN/ETA KEEP MAIN CENTER OF MID/UPPER RIDGE TO OUR WEST WITH STRONGER SHORTWAVES STAYING WELL TO OUR NORTH. BOTH AVN/ETA SHOW SHORTWAVE ENERGY TO OUR WEST THIS AFTERNOON...BUT AVN A BIT MORE AGGRESSIVE ON PUSHING THIS FEATURE EASTWARD. RADAR ALREADY SHOWING NICE AREA OF SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS NE AL AND N GA. BOTH MODELS SHOW ENOUGH MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY AROUND THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING ALONG WITH ALREADY DEVELOPED PRECIPITATION TO CONTINUE WITH THE SLIGHT CHANCE. BY MONDAY AND TUESDAY...ETA SHOWS GOOD TROUGH ACROSS THE AREA. ETA IS STRONGER AND SHOULD BE BECAUSE IT HANDLES THESE SMALLER/WEAKER SCALE FEATURES BETTER THAN THE AVN. WITH BOTH MODELS SHOWING SHORTWAVE MOVING ACROSS THE AREA DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING THINK CHANCES OF PRECIPITATION A LITTLE BETTER THAN TODAY. WILL GO WITH CHANCE POPS MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. THIS AGREES WELL WITH BOTH GUIDANCE AND LOCAL EQUATIONS. AS FOR TEMPERATURES...T1 TEMPS WARMER TOMORROW...BUT SHOULD HAVE A FEW MORE CLOUDS ACROSS THE AREA. KEEPING WITH CURRENT FORECAST OF MID 90S ACROSS THE AREA. GUIDANCE AND LOCAL TEMPERATURES VERY SIMILAR THROUGH THE PERIOD. EXTENDED...MID/UPPER LEVEL RIDGE GRADUALLY BUILD EASTWARD DURING THE WEEK WITH DECREASING RAIN CHANCES AND ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES BY THE END OF THE WEE. FCSTID = 77 CAE 72 95 73 94 / 20 30 40 30 AGS 70 95 71 94 / 20 30 40 30 SSC 72 94 73 94 / 20 30 40 30 OGB 71 95 72 94 / 20 30 40 30 .CAE... GA...NONE. SC...NONE. LCV
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA, SC
521 PM EDT SUN AUG 18 2002
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
505 PM AUGUSTA GA WIND DAMAGE
08/18/02 RICHMOND PUBLIC REPORTED TREES
DOWN AT WASHINGTON AND
I-20.
RCCSCZ018-020-021-025>028-030-035>037-041-GAZ040-063>065-077-190030- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 640 PM EDT SUN AUG 18 2002 THE SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING 12 COUNTIES IN SOUTH CAROLINA: AIKEN... BAMBERG... BARNWELL... CALHOUN... EDGEFIELD... FAIRFIELD... LEXINGTON... MCCORMICK... NEWBERRY... ORANGEBURG... RICHLAND... SALUDA... THE SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING 5 COUNTIES IN GEORGIA: BURKE... COLUMBIA... LINCOLN... MCDUFFIE... RICHMOND... ...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS RUMBLE ACROSS THE CSRA AND MIDLANDS... A CLUSTER OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUES TO PUSH MAINLY TO THE EAST ACROSS THE CENTRAL SAVANNAH RIVER AREA OF GEORGIA AND THE SOUTHERN MIDLANDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR RAINFALL ESTIMATES SHOW RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR WITH SOME OF THESE STORMS. THIS ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS. THE STRONGEST STORMS WILL ALSO PRODUCE WIND GUSTS TO 40 MPH AND SMALL HAIL. MOTORISTS SHOULD DRIVE WITH CAUTION AS PONDING OF WATER WILL OCCUR ON ROADWAYS. BC
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A microburst moved a mobile home off its foundation and did light to moderate damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Carolina in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in South Carolina, August 2002
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: 5312587.