High Wind in South Carolina, December 13, 2002

Name: High Wind in South Carolina, December 13, 2002
Start: 2002-12-13T08:00
End: 2002-12-13T09:15
Location: South Carolina

December 13, 2002 · NWS GSP · 7 events in 7 counties and zones

Where it happened

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.

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: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 7

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 happened

The episode as NWS GSP wrote it up.

Damaging winds were caused by a gravity wave as it propagated out of northeast Georgia and across upstate South Carolina during the late morning hours. In the Oakway community, the roof was blown off of a mobile home. Some gas pumps were blown over at a convenience store in Fairplay. Numerous trees and power lines were also downed. Around 10,000 people lost power from the Georgia state line to the northern half of Greenville County.

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 Dec 13, 3:35 AM EST, 4 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 13, 3:35 AM EST, 4 hours 25 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
335 AM EST FRI DEC 13 2002

LOOKING AT THE RADAR COMPOSITE THIS AM AND ITS OBVIOUS THAT
WIDESPREAD RAIN IS IN THE OFFING. GFS TIMING HAS BEST REFLECTED
REALITY AND WILL CONSIDER OVER THE ETA. COMMON PATTERN TAKING
PLACE...CAD WILL REMAIN TODAY AS LOW PRESSURE MOVES ACROSS EASTERN
TENNESSEE. ISENTROPIC LIFT REMAINS THE STRONGEST BEFORE NOON AS A
DRY SLOT COVERS AREAS EAST OF THE APPA THIS AFTERNOON...WILL ADD
TIMING WORDING...MOISTURE AND DYNAMICS CONTINUE OVER THE HIGHER
TERRAIN TODAY. ALTHOUGH SIGNIFICANT DRYING TAKES PLACE IN THE MID
AND UPPER LEVELS TODAY WILL EXPECT A CEILING TODAY AND TEMPS WILL
NOT GAIN MUCH GROUND WITH NE WIND AND CAA.

TONIGHT...H85 WINDS BECOMES WESTERLY AND AMPLE LLVL MOISTURE WILL
SUPPLY UPSLOPE SHOWERS TO THE NC MTNS. DEEPER CAA WILL TRANSITION
THE SHRA TO SHSN BY MIDNIGHT. UPSLOPE ACTIVITY WILL CONTINUE SAT AND
WILL GRADUALLY FAVOR THE NORTHERN MTNS AS MOISTURE ERODES DURING THE
DAY...ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BE LIGHT WITH POSSIBLY
MEASURABLE AMOUNTS ON THE TOPS. EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS CONDITIONS
WILL IMPROVE WITH THE DOWNSLOPE FLOW AND PEAKS OF SUNLIGHT TEMPS
WILL MAKE A 10 DEGREE CLIMB OVER TODAYS VALUES.

DRY HIGH PRESSURE CENTERED OVER THE NORTHERN GULF WILL DOMINATE THE
WX FOR SAT NIGHT AND SUNDAY. WILL KEEP TEMPS STEADY TODAY...WILL
BLEND MOS THRU SUN. ONLY COSMETIC CHANGES MADE TO THE EXT.

FCSTID =   16
GSP   42  37  52  32 / 100  30  10   0
AND   43  38  52  32 / 100  30  10   0
CLT   41  38  52  32 / 100  50  10   0
HKY   39  35  48  31 / 100  60  10   0
AVL   42  35  43  29 / 100  50  30  10

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

NED

Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 13, 5:00 AM EST, 3 hours before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-131200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
500 AM EST FRI DEC 13 2002

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA...
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

WIDESPREAD RAIN WILL COVER THE REGION THROUGH NOON...BY LATE THIS
AFTERNOON A CHANCE RAIN WILL EXIST OVER NORTHEAST GEORGIA THROUGH
THE UPSTATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA WITH RAIN CONTINUING ELSEWHERE. THIS
EVENING...MOUNTAIN RAIN SHOWERS WILL BEGIN MIXING WITH SNOW WITH A
TRANSITION TO ALL SNOW EXPECTED AFTER MIDNIGHT.

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

SATURDAY...WINDY CONDITIONS WILL DEVELOP IN THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS
AS NORTHWEST WINDS STRENGTHEN TO 20 TO 30 MPH. SNOW SHOWERS OVER THE
TENNESSEE BORDER COUNTIES WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE DAY TIME
RESULTING IN MAINLY LIGHT ACCUMULATIONS...MEASURABLE AMOUNTS LESS
THAN AN INCH ARE EXPECTED ON MOUNTAIN TOPS OVER 3000 FT.

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

NED

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Dec 13, 7:50 AM EST, 10 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ048-051>053-058-059-062>065-SCZ001>006-
010>012-019-131500-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
750 AM EST FRI DEC 13 2002

...GUSTY WINDS REPORTED IN NORTH GEORGIA...

HABERSHAM COUNTY 911 REPORTED THAT TREES HAVE BEEN DOWNED AT SEVERAL
LOCATIONS AROUND THE COUNTY THIS MORNING...AS MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN
AND GUSTY WINDS MOVED THROUGH.  NO THUNDER OR LIGHTNING HAD BEEN
REPORTED ASSOCIATED WITH THESE DOWNED TREES.

AS HAS BEEN OBSERVED SEVERAL TIMES DURING RECENT MONTHS...TREES HAVE
BEEN DOWNED AT LOWER THRESHOLDS THAN NORMALLY REQUIRED FOR
DAMAGE...BECAUSE OF STRESS FROM THE DROUGHT WHICH AFFECTED THE AREA
FOR SEVERAL YEARS.  ALSO...THE RECENT ICE STORM LIKELY WEAKENED
ADDITIONAL TREES IN THE AREA.

AS GUSTY WINDS MOVE ACROSS EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA...AND THE
WESTERN CAROLINAS THIS MORNING...MORE TREES WILL LIKELY FALL HERE
AND THERE.

JONES

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

7 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Oconee Mountains

When: December 13, 8:00 AM EST to 9:15 AM EST
Where: Oconee Mountains forecast zone
Measured: 70 kt (81 mph)
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT

High Wind, Pickens Mountains

When: December 13, 8:00 AM EST to 9:15 AM EST
Where: Pickens Mountains forecast zone
Measured: 70 kt (81 mph)
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT

High Wind, Greenville Mountains

When: December 13, 8:00 AM EST to 9:15 AM EST
Where: Greenville Mountains forecast zone
Measured: 70 kt (81 mph)
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT

High Wind, Greater Oconee

When: December 13, 8:00 AM EST to 9:15 AM EST
Where: Greater Oconee forecast zone
Measured: 70 kt (81 mph)
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT

High Wind, Greater Pickens

When: December 13, 8:00 AM EST to 9:15 AM EST
Where: Greater Pickens forecast zone
Measured: 70 kt (81 mph)
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT

High Wind, Greater Greenville

When: December 13, 8:00 AM EST to 9:15 AM EST
Where: Greater Greenville forecast zone
Measured: 70 kt (81 mph)
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT

High Wind, Anderson

When: December 13, 8:00 AM EST to 9:15 AM EST
Where: Anderson forecast zone
Measured: 70 kt (81 mph)
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 34.519, -82.638 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in South Carolina in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in South Carolina, December 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: 5326502, 5326503, 5326504, 5326505, 5326506, 5326507, 5326508.