1 tornado, 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 Greenville-Spartanburg, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 6, 9:32 AM EST, 3 hours 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 1032 AM EDT TUE MAY 6 2003 AT 14Z...CWFA LOOKS TO BE SOUTH OF MAIN SYNOPTIC SCALE BNDRY...WITH SSW SFC WINDS AT MOST STATIONS. AMOUNT OF DESTABILIZATION THIS AFTERNOON STILL QUITE UNCERTAIN WITH ENCROACHING CLDS AND PCPN THANKS TO APPROACHING MCS. 12Z 850 MB ANALYSIS DOES INDICATE A FAVORABLE THERMAL/MOISTURE PROFILE FOR DESTABILIZATION...ROUGHLY ALONG NEW SPC DAY 1 SLT RISK...THRU NE GA...THE UPSTATE TO AROUND CLT METRO. WILL UPDATE SVR WX OUTLOOK TO REFINE CURRENT THINKING... FOR A THREAT A FEW LATE DAY OR EVENING SVR STORMS. WILL MENTION THREAT OF BOTH DAMAGING WIND AND LARGE HAIL...BUT NOT TERRIBLY IMPRESSED WITH PARAMETERS FOR EITHER OF THESE WITH HIGH WBZ HEIGHTS AND LOW THETA-E LAPSES GIVEN MOIST SNDGS. ALSO PLAN ON NOT MAKING CHGS TO GOING FLOOD WATCH ALTHOUGH OBVIOUS SHORT TERM THREAT WILL REMAIN LIMITED TO THE MOUNTAINS GIVEN LARGE SCALE PATTERN OF BROAD WSW FLOW. FCSTID = 55 GSP 78 63 82 62 / 90 40 40 40 AND 79 63 83 61 / 90 40 40 40 CLT 80 62 83 62 / 90 40 40 40 HKY 76 61 80 61 / 100 40 40 40 AVL 73 58 78 57 / 100 50 50 40 .GSP... GA...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY GAZ010-017>018-GAZ026-GAZ028>029. NC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082. SC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY SCZ001>014-019.
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-061100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 440 AM EDT TUE MAY 6 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA... UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE TODAY...SOME WITH TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. SOME MAY BECOME SEVERE...ESPECIALLY LATE AFTERNOON THROUGH EVENING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE LIKELY TODAY.
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-062100- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 1047 AM EDT TUE MAY 6 2003 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE LATER TODAY OR TONIGHT... WIDESPREAD RAIN WITH A FEW EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE ACROSS THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA INTO THE EARLY AFTERNOON HOURS. THIS COVERAGE OF PRECIPITATION WILL SLOW WARMING AND DEGREE OF DESTABILIZATION. RAIN IS EXPECTED TO DIMINISH LATER THIS AFTERNOON...POSSIBLY FOLLOWED BY SOME CLEARING. IF RAIN ENDS AND CLEARING OCCURS SOON ENOUGH...THE ATMOSPHERE COULD BECOME UNSTABLE ENOUGH TO SUPPORT SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT... WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND BEING THE BIGGEST THREAT. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR FAVORITE MEDIA OUTLET FOR THE LATEST UPDATES CONCERNING THIS POTENTIAL SEVERE WEATHER SITUATION. FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION...CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT WWW.ERH.NOAA.GOV/GSP
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
220 PM EDT TUE MAY 06 2003
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
203 PM SANDY CROSS GA TORNADO
05/06/03 FRANKLIN EOC REPORTED TORNADO
TOUCHED DOWN NEAR SANDY
SPRINGS ON HWY 51 AT
BRAYS LAKE. BUILDING
LEVELED AND TREES DOWN.
TJBPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
220 PM EDT TUE MAY 06 2003
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
203 PM SANDY CROSS GA TORNADO
05/06/03 FRANKLIN EOC REPORTED TORNADO
TOUCHED DOWN NEAR SANDY
CROSS ON HWY 51 AT BRAYS
LAKE. BUILDING LEVELED,
COUPLE OTHER HOMES DAMAGED,
AND TREES DOWN.
TJBThe Greer radar (KGSP), 110 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:19 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
This tornado moved from Madison County into northwest Elbert County and intensified, destroying or severely damaging several houses and mobile homes. A parked car was also flipped before the tornado lifted.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Georgia in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Georgia, 2003Warnings in Georgia, May 2003
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: 5357255.