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 Aug 26, 8:39 AM EST, 4 hours 9 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC 939 AM EDT MON AUG 26 2002 ZFP: 12Z CHS RAOB APPEARS VERY PROMISING FOR ADDITIONAL RNFL TDA. SFC PATTERN THIS MORNING IS QUITE COMPLEX DESPITE WEAK MID SUMMER WIND FIELDS. H85 ANALYSIS INDICATES GOOD MOISTURE CONVERGENCE ALONG A TROF FROM AHN TO W OF TLH. ISOLD CONVECTION ALREADY OCCURRING IN S CENTRAL GEORGIA NEAR THE AXIS OF BETTER LOW LVL FORCING. THE LATEST SHORT TERM GUIDANCE SHOWS THIS TROF REMAINING W OF OUR CWFA DURING THE DAY BUT WSW STEERING WILL ALLOW CONVECTION TO REACH THE COAST LATER THIS AFTN. LARGE BREAKS IN THE CLOUD FIELD ON THE LATEST VSBL STLT IMAGE SHOULD ASSIST CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTN. THE BIG QUESTION IS COVERAGE AGAIN AND SINCE ADVERTISED POPS ARE 50 PCNT AND CONFIDENCE IS NOT EXTREMELY HIGH...WILL NOT UPDATE ZONE FORECAST THIS MORNING FOR POPS. MAX TEMPS SHOULD BE FINE AS POCKETS OF INSOLATION DEVELOP. CWF: FCST LOOKS GOOD...ONLY MINOR INITIALIZATION CHANGES. .CHS... GA...NONE. SC...NONE.
The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 47 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:47 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck and killed a 61 year old male while he and his wife were out shrimping.
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, Beaufort | 2002-08-26 | 61 | Male | Boat | Direct |
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: 5312403.