1 lightning, 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 Jul 18, 2:00 PM EST, 1 hour 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 300 PM EDT FRI JUL 18 2003 SURFACE FRONT STRETCHES FROM SRN PA THROUGH THE OHIO VALLEY AT 18Z THIS AFTERNOON. LEE TROUGHING IS OBSERVED THROUGH THE WESTERN CAROLINAS...WITH LAPS ANALSYS INDICATING BEST LOW LEVEL MOISTURE FLUX CONVERGENCE ALONG THE BLUE RIDGE IN NC. SOUNDINGS INDICATE CAPE VALUES ABOVE 3000 J/KG OUTSIDE THE MOUNTAINS WITH MUCH LESS CAPPING OF WARM MID LEVEL TEMPS EVIDENT. CONVECTION SHOULD INITIATE EARLIER TODAY...AND RADAR INDEED SHOWS TSRA FANNING OUT ALONG THE ESCARPMENT PRESENTLY. LOW WET BULB ZERO HEIGHTS ALONG WITH STEEP LAPSES OF EQUIV POTENTIAL TEMPERATURES FROM THE SFC TO 700 MB SUGGEST THAT HAIL AND DAMAGING DOWNBURST WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE ANY CONVECTION. IR IMAGERY DEPICTS STRONG MCS OVER THE SRN TIP OF ILLINOIS AND STEERING CURRENT SHOULD DRIVE THE BULK OF THIS CONVECTION SOUTHWARD ALONG THE MS RIVER VALLEY. PROMINENT 500 MB SHORTWAVE IS INDICATED BY THE MODELS...HOWEVER...TO SWING SOUTHEAST AND CROSS THE SRN APPALACHIANS OVERNIGHT. THIS FORCING WILL INCREASE AS FRONTAL SYSTEM ALSO SLOWLY APPROACHES FROM THE N. WILL THUS NEED SOLID CHC POPS TO CONTINUE OVERNIGHT WITH THE BEST CHANCES LATE OVER THE MTNS AND THE NRN TIER. UPPER WAVE EXITS TO THE EAST EARLY IN THE DAY...THEN THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY SAGS INTO THE REGION AND STALLS. LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE AND INSTABILITY WILL ONCE AGAIN BE FAVORABLE FOR CHC POPS THROUGHOUT THE DAY. SOME DRYING IS THEN INDICATED BETWEEN UPPER TROUGHS ON SUNDAY WITH WEAK SHORTWAVE RIDGING IN PLACE. ETA INSTABILITIES BUBBLE BACK TO 2000 TO 3000 CAPES BUT WITH SOME CAPPING EVIDENT. HEIGHTS THEN FALL IN EARNEST THROUGH THE EARLY WEEK. THE GFS PAINTS A SEVERE WEATHER SCENARIO AS 850 MB JET WRAPS INTO THE AREA COINCIDENT WITH THE APPROACH OF AN UNSEASONABLY STRONG COLD FRONT AND SIGNIFICANT UPPER FORCING. WILL NEED CHANCE POPS FROM PM MONDAY THROUGH WED WITH THE BEST CHC TUE. SOME UNCERTAINTY WITH DRYING AND TROUGH AXIS PROGRESSION FOR THU AND FRI...BUT DRY WEATHER STILL LOOKS GOOD. FCSTID = 33 GSP 70 86 69 88 / 40 50 30 20 AND 70 87 69 89 / 40 50 30 20 CLT 70 85 68 88 / 40 50 30 20 HKY 68 84 66 86 / 50 50 30 20 AVL 65 83 63 84 / 50 50 30 20 .GSP... GA...NONE. NC...NONE. SC...NONE. HG
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-181145- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 547 AM EDT FRI JUL 18 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA... UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE THROUGH THE NIGHT. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING TORRENTIAL RAIN AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. A FEW OF THE STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... THUNDERSTORMS WILL LINGER INTO SATURDAY MORNING...WITH MORE THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER THE REGION SATURDAY AFTERNOON. ONCE AGAIN...A FEW OF THESE STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE. THERE WILL BE A GOOD CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED. MCAVOY
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-182100- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 1116 AM EDT FRI JUL 18 2003 ...A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS WILL REMAIN OVER THE REGION TODAY AND TONIGHT. A WEAK COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE WESTERN CAROLINAS LATE TONIGHT...THEN DISSIPATE ON SATURDAY. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE MOUNTAINS OF THE WESTERN CAROLINAS LATE THIS AFTERNOON...AND DRIFT INTO THE FOOTHILLS AND UPSTATE EARLY THIS EVENING. A FEW OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS COULD BE SEVERE WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME MORE NUMEROUS ALONG AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE 40 BY LATE EVENING. THIS AREA WILL HAVE THE BEST CHANCE OF SEEING DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. HOWEVER...AN ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE POSSIBLE JUST ABOUT ANYWHERE OVER THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA BY EARLY EVENING. A SECOND ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS MAY MOVE INTO THE NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS AFTER MIDNIGHT...AS THE WEAK COLD FRONT ENTERS THE REGION. DEPENDING ON HOW STABLE THE ATMOSPHERE BECOMES LATER TONIGHT...THESE STORMS WILL ALSO HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE ISOLATED AREAS OF DAMAGING WIND AND LARGE HAIL. AS STORMS WILL BE SLOW MOVING LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING... THERE WILL ONCE AGAIN BE A THREAT OF LOCALIZED FLOODING. FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION...CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT WWW.ERH.NOAA.GOV/GSP SPOTTER GROUPS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO ACTIVATE QUICKLY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. DISPATCHERS SHOULD ENSURE COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS ARE AWARE OF THIS INFORMATION. NED
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
419 PM EDT FRI JUL 18 2003
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
330 PM HENDERSONVILLE NC WIND DAMAGE
07/18/03 HENDERSON A COUPLE OF TREES BLOWN
DOWN ON 4TH AVENUE.
328 PM ETOWAH NC HAIL DAMAGE
07/18/03 HENDERSON DAMAGE REPORTED DUE TO
LARGE HAIL. HAIL SIZE NOT
KNOWN.
NEDThe Greer radar (KGSP), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:39 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A person was injured when he was struck by lightning.
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, July 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: 5330181.