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 Greenville-Spartanburg, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 22, 6:56 PM EST, 1 hour 4 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
656 PM EST SAT FEB 22 2003
ISSUING UPDATE TO EXTEND THE FLOOD WATCH TO ALL NC MTN COUNTIES AND
NE GA MTN COUNTIES. SEVERAL STREAMS ARE RUNNING QUITE FULL...AND
LATEST ROUND OF CONVECTION PROMISES TO TRAIN NWD FROM THE FRENCH
BROAD TO THE TOE AND NOLICHUCKY RIVERS. WILL ALSO TRIM ROWAN COUNTY
FROM THE DENSE FOG ADVISORY AS WARM FRONT HAS LIFTED JUST TO THE
NORTH. POPS HAVE BEEN RAISED ACROSS MOST OF THE AREA AS WELL.
FCSTID = 44
GSP 43 57 37 60 / 40 10 20 20
AND 44 59 36 61 / 40 0 20 20
CLT 45 60 37 59 / 40 0 20 20
HKY 41 54 35 55 / 50 10 20 20
AVL 40 50 33 55 / 50 10 20 20
.GSP...
GA...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH MIDNIGHT FOR ZONES GAZ010...GAZ017.
WIND ADVISORY FOR AREA LAKES ALL.
NC...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH MIDNIGHT FOR ZONES
NCZ033...NCZ048>053...NCZ058>059...NCZ062>065.
WIND ADVISORY FOR LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY SUNDAY FOR ZONES
NCZ033...NCZ048>050.
WIND ADVISORY FOR AREA LAKES ALL ELSE.
DENSE FOG ADVISORY FOR THIS EVENING FOR ZONES
NCZ034>037...NCZ054>056.
SC...WIND ADVISORY FOR AREA LAKES ALL.
BURRUS/HGGAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-221300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 619 AM EST SAT FEB 22 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA... UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA. SOME OF THE STORMS WILL LIKELY BE SEVERE...ESPECIALLY LATE THIS MORNING INTO THIS AFTERNOON. HEAVY RAINFALL COULD ALSO PRODUCE ISOLATED FLASH FLOODING. WINDS WILL REMAIN STRONG AFTER THE PRECIPIATION ENDS TONIGHT...ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS. FOR MORE INFORMATION...SEE CAESPSGSP. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED BY EARLY AFTERNOON... ESPECIALLY ALONG THE I-85 CORRIDOR. LANE
GAZ010-017-NCZ033-048>053-058-059-062>065-SCZ001>003-230015- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 512 PM EST SAT FEB 22 2003 SCATTERED...STRONG...THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP OVER THE MOUNTAINS OF THE WESTERN CAROLINAS...AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA...THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS. THE STORMS WILL RACE NORTHEAST AT AROUND 50 MPH. HAIL UP TO A HALF INCH IN DIAMETER...AND WINDS OF 40 TO 50 MPH...WILL ACCOMPANY THE STRONGER STORMS. MCAVOY
GAZ018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>050-052>057-064>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-230330- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 735 PM EST SAT FEB 22 2003 ...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN DEVELOPING OVER THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA... A STATIONARY FRONT RUNNING ROUGHLY ALONG INTERSTATE 85 THROUGH THE NORTH CAROLINA PIEDMONT...AND UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...WILL SERVE AS THE FOCUSING MECHANISM FOR STRONG THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS. THESE STORMS WILL RACE TO THE NORTHEAST AT AROUND 50 MPH. HOWEVER...SEVERAL STORMS WILL AFFECT THE SAME AREA...IN AN EFFECT KNOWN AS TRAINING. THIS WILL RESULT IN SOME AREAS SEEING 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. THE STRONGER STORMS WILL ALSO PRODUCE FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...40 TO 50 MPH WINDS AND HAIL UP TO A HALF INCH IN DIAMETER. IN THE NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS...A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE TORRENTIAL RAIN...FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING AND SMALL HAIL ALONG AND EAST OF A LINE FROM BREVARD TO BUNCOMBE AND BAKERSVILLE. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS DEVELOPING WEATHER SITUATION. MCAVOY
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 103 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:57 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
The Toe River flooded portions of highway 197. Also, some creeks flooded, including Crabtree Creek the Mitchell County line.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Carolina in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, February 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: 5344612.