North Carolina, 2003

Winter Weather in North Carolina, February 23, 2003

February 23, 2003 · NWS GSP · 7 events in 7 counties and zones

Light snow resulted in accumulations of an inch or less across the mountains along the Tennessee border. This resulted in some slick spots on area roads.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 7 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.

Light snow resulted in accumulations of an inch or less across the mountains along the Tennessee border. This resulted in some slick spots on area roads.

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 Feb 22, 10:45 PM EST, 1 hour 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 22, 10:45 PM EST, 1 hour 15 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1045 PM EST SAT FEB 22 2003

COLD FRONT NOT MOVING AS QUICKLY AS EARLIER ANTICIPATED...AND CWFA
REMAINS RATHER WARM...AND UNSTABLE. STILL A COUPLE OF LINES OF
CONVECTION UPSTREAM THAT WILL AFFECT THE CWFA LATER TONIGHT...BUT
WIDESPREAD COVERAGE NOT ANTICIPATED SO WILL LOWER POPS BACK TO
CHANCE FOR THE OVERNIGHT. COLD ADVECTION YET TO BEGIN IN THE
MOUNTAINS...BUT SHOULD BEGIN IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS AND WILL MAINTAIN
THE RAIN/SNOW SHOWER MIX FOR THE MOUNTAINS...LATE...WITH
SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS BEFORE 3 AM OR SO. MANY STREAMS/CREEKS RUNNING
AT OR NEAR BANKFULL...SO FLOOD WATCH WILL STAY TIL 7 AM SUNDAY.
OTHER CHANGES TO ZONES MINOR.

FCSTID =   44
GSP   50  57  37  60 /  50  10  20  20
AND   52  59  36  61 /  50   0  20  20
CLT   50  60  37  59 /  50   0  20  20
HKY   46  54  35  55 /  50  10  20  20
AVL   43  50  33  55 /  60  10  20  20

.GSP...
GA...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT FOR ZONES.
GAZ010...GAZ017>018...GAZ026...GAZ028>029.
WIND ADVISORY FOR AREA LAKES GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029.
NC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT FOR ZONES NCZ033>037...NCZ048>059...
NCZ062>072...NCZ082.
WIND ADVISORY FOR ALL AREA LAKES EXCEPT NCZ033-034-048-050-054-055.
WIND ADVISORY FOR LATE TONIGHT FOR ZONES NCZ033...NCZ048>050.
SC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT FOR ZONES SCZ001>014...SCZ019.
WIND ADVISORY FOR ALL AREA LAKES.

BURRUS
Hazardous weather outlook, Feb 22, 6:19 AM EST, 17 hours 41 minutes before
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-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

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Feb 22, 7:35 PM EST, 4 hours 25 minutes before
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
Local storm report, Feb 22, 10:23 PM EST, 1 hour 37 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
1023 PM EST SAT FEB 22 2003

TIME(EST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

930 PM     GREENVILLE                SC   WIND DAMAGE
02/22/03   GREENVILLE                     GREENVILLE POLICE AND
                                          FIRE REPORTED 2 TRAFFIC
                                          LIGHTS BLOWN OFF AND
                                          HANGING BY A THREAD.

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 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Weather, Avery

When
February 23, 12:00 AM EST to 4:00 AM EST
Where
Avery forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
36.077, -81.922 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Madison

When
February 23, 12:00 AM EST to 4:00 AM EST
Where
Madison forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
35.858, -82.706 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Yancey

When
February 23, 12:00 AM EST to 4:00 AM EST
Where
Yancey forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
35.899, -82.308 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Mitchell

When
February 23, 12:00 AM EST to 4:00 AM EST
Where
Mitchell forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
36.013, -82.163 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Swain

When
February 23, 12:00 AM EST to 4:00 AM EST
Where
Swain forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
35.487, -83.493 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Haywood

When
February 23, 12:00 AM EST to 4:00 AM EST
Where
Haywood forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
35.556, -82.982 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Weather, Graham

When
February 23, 12:00 AM EST to 4:00 AM EST
Where
Graham forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
35.350, -83.834 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Weather
Snow, sleet or freezing rain below warning levels that still caused disruption, damage or casualties.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in North Carolina in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, February 2003

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: 5344936, 5344937, 5344938, 5345138, 5345232, 5345233, 5345234.