1 flash flood, 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 31, 1:50 PM EST, 4 hours 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC 250 PM EDT SAT AUG 31 2002 IT HAS BEEN A BATTLE ALL DAY BUT FINALLY SOME OF THE SH/TS ACTIVITY IS MAKING ITS WAY TO THE COASTAL AREAS. ATMOS BECOMING A LITTLE MORE UNSTABLE AS THE LOW CLOUDS HAVE THINNED SOMEWHAT ALLOWING SURFACE TEMPS TO WARM JUST ENOUGH. SMALL AREAS OF CONVECTION ARE FORMING INLAND AND THIS TREND WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. ETA AND AVN MOS ARE GOING IN TWO SEPARATE DIRECTIONS WITH THEIR POP FORECASTS. ETA HOLDS ON TO HIGH POPS TONIGHT WHILE AVN DROPS THEM CONSIDERABLY AND CONTINUES THAT TREND FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. AS PER HPC DISCUSSION...ETA MAY BE CONCENTRATING TOO MUCH ON THE VORT IT IS BRINGING OUT OF THE BAHAMAS. THE UPPER JET TO OUR WEST THAT HAS PROVIDED ADDITIONAL LIFT FOR SH/TS THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS IS FORECAST TO SHIFT NE LATER TONIGHT. THIS SHOULD LIMIT THE UPPER DIVERGENCE OVER THE AREA...AND MODELS SHOW THIS BY SHIFTING THE 250 MB DIVERGENCE WELL NORTH OF THE AREA OVER THE NEXT 48 HOURS. THIS IS PRIMARILY WHERE THE MODELS...HPC...AND THE SERFC ARE GENERATING THE LARGEST QPF THE NEXT 24 HOURS. DESPITE THE ONGOING CONVECTION OFFSHORE...ALL OF THE ABOVE POINT TO A LESSENING CHANCE OF WIDESPREAD FLOODING OVER THE AREA. WILL LET THE FLOOD WATCH EXPIRE AT 6 PM. A FEW AREAS WILL STILL NEED TO BE WATCHED CLOSELY FOR POSSIBLE FLOODING...BUT OVERALL THREAT TO THE CWA IS MUCH LOWER. BOTH THE ETA AND AVN SHOW WEAK UPPER TROFFING OVER THE CAROLINAS THE FIRST PART OF NEXT WEEK. TIME SECTIONS SHOW MID LEVEL DRY AIR COMING INTO PICTURE MON-WED AS FLOW ALOFT BECOMES NW. A FEW S/W TROFS RIDING IN THE NW FLOW WILL LIKELY PRODUCE SCT CONVECTION DURING THAT TIME. ABSENCE OF ANY STRONG RIDGING WILL KEEP POPS ONGOING THROUGH THE FORECAST. MARINE...STATIONARY FRONT ALONG IMMEDIATE COAST WILL BE KEPT IN PLACE BY HIGH PRESSURE OVER NEW ENGLAND RIDGING DOWN THE EASTERN SEABOARD. THUS EXPECT NORTHEAST FLOW TO CONTINUE OVER COASTAL AND OFFSHORE ZONES. INTERESTING FEATURE NORTHEAST OF BAHAMAS. ANY EFFECT ON OUR MARINE ZONES STILL IN QUESTION. BEST TIME FRAME ESTIMATE OF ANY EFFECT WOULD BE VERY LATE SUNDAY INTO THE FIRST HALF OF MONDAY. ONCE IT MOVES BY EASTERLY FLOW SETS UP AGAIN. CHS 73 84 73 86 / 50 50 30 30 SAV 72 84 72 87 / 50 50 30 30 CHL 75 81 75 82 / 50 50 30 30 NBC 74 83 74 86 / 50 50 30 30 RBW 71 85 71 87 / 40 40 30 30 MHP 71 85 71 87 / 40 40 30 30 .CHS... GA...NONE. SC...NONE. PY/HA
The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 103 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:47 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Over five inches of rain fell within a couple of hours and caused numerous roads to be inundated with several feet of water.
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: 5312495.