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 15, 3:20 PM EST, 2 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 420 PM EDT THU MAY 15 2003 UPDATE- ZFP UPDATED TO INCLUDE SVR TSTM WATCH INFORMATION UNTIL 10 PM. PREVIOUS DISCUSSION - LOOKS LIKE WE WILL BE DEALING WITH A COUPLE OF CONVECTIVE COMPLEXES FOR THE IMMEDIATE SHORT TERM PERIOD WITH THE BEST TSTM CVRG THIS EVENING ACRS MY NC ZONES...CLOSER TO THE TRACKS OF THE SUPPORTING S/WVS. LATEST LAPS DATA INDICATES CAPE VALUES APRCHG 2000 J/KG ACRS WRN NC...AND COMBINED WITH SOME LARGE SCALE LIFT FROM AFOREMENTIONED S/WVS...MODERATE CYCLONIC MID-LVL FLOW ON THE ORDER OF 35-40 KTS...ALL AIDED BY THIS AREA COMING UNDER THE LEFT EXIT REGION OF 105KT 250 MB JET...SVR STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE. ATTM...PLAN ON EVENING POPS OF SCATTERED 50 CVRG FOR THE NORTHERN TIER AND CHC 30 FOR THE SOUTHERN 1/2. WILL KEEP CHCS GOING THRU MIDNIGHT UNTIL LARGE SCALE STABILIZATION OCCURS AND LIFT FROM WAVE OVER KY/TN SHIFTS EAST OF CWFA. CWFA TO COME UNDER A BROAD AND DEEP...BUT GRADUALLY WEAKENING WSW FLOW FRIDAY AND FRIDAY AS SFC FRONT...WHICH IS APRCHG FROM THE NW TONIGHT...SAGS INTO THE AREA. OVERALL...ATMOSPHERE LOOKS TO BE PRETTY WEAKLY FORCED...BUT AS SOME DEEPER RH CREEPS NORTHWARD BACK INTO AREA...AND THE UPGLIDE FLOW INCREASES SOME... HAVE GONE WITH 30 POP FRIDAY NIGHT...UP FROM SILENT 20 POP DURING THE DAY. CHCS FOR DEEP CONVECTION SATURDAY STILL ON TRACK WITH FLOW AND MOISTURE INCREASING RESPECTIVELY AS LLVL BAROCLINIC ZONE LOOKS TO BE FLOATING ALONG OUR SOUTHERN TIER DURING THE DAY. MEDIUM RANGE MODELS ROUGHLY LEADING TOWARD SYNOPTIC SOLUTION OF ATTEMPTING TO DEVELOP CAD EVENT SOUTHWARD INTO THE CWFA SUN-TUE. EARLY IN THIS PERIOD...HANDLING OF APRCHG SOUTHERN STREAM ENERGY EVEN LESS CERTAIN ALONG WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR SUBSTANTIAL PCPN CVRG ACRS THE CWFA. AT THIS JUNCTURE PREFER TO FAVOR A WETTER AND STABLE SOLUTION THIS PERIOD...BUT IT GENERALLY SHAKES OUT TO JUST CHC POPS EACH DAY. FOR THE LATTER PERIODS...STILL ON TRACK FOR A SCOURING COLD FRONT AND POTENTIAL FOR DEEP CONVECTION WEDNESDAY FOLLOWED BY A DRY DAY 7. FCSTID = 55 GSP 59 83 61 75 / 30 20 30 30 AND 59 83 61 75 / 30 20 30 30 CLT 59 83 61 75 / 30 20 30 30 HKY 58 81 60 74 / 50 20 30 30 AVL 56 78 58 71 / 40 20 30 30 .GSP... GA...NONE. NC...NONE. SC...NONE.
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-151200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 603 AM EDT THU MAY 15 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA... UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL END THIS MORNING...BUT REDEVELOPMENT IS EXPECTED LATER TODAY AS A STRONG SHORTWAVE APPROACHES THE REGION. IF THE FORECAST AREA RECEIVES ENOUGH SUN FROM LATE MORNING THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON ONCE THE MORNING SHOWERS HAVE ENDED...THE ATMOSPHERE COULD BECOME UNSTABLE ENOUGH TO SUPPORT STRONG...OR EVEN SEVERE...THUNDERSTORMS. THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS PLACED ALL OF THE FORECAST AREA IN A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE STORMS TODAY. SEE THE LATEST SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FROM OUR OFFICE...PRODUCT PIL CAESPSGSP...FOR MORE DETAILED LOCALIZED INFORMATION ON SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS AFTERNOON. SPOTTER GROUPS ARE URGED TO STAY UP TO DATE WITH LATEST CURRENT FORECAST THINKING FOR POTENTIAL NET ACTIVATION. BURRUS
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
529 PM EDT THU MAY 15 2003
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
420 PM LENOIR NC 1.75 INCH HAIL
05/15/03 LENOIR FROM AMATEUR RADIO NET
RBNPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
531 PM EDT THU MAY 15 2003
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
529 PM 2 E ASHEVILLE NC 1.00 INCH HAIL
05/15/03 BUNCOMBE AMATEUR RADIO NET
REPORTED HAIL ON EAST
SIDE OF ASHEVILLE
RBNPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
544 PM EDT THU MAY 15 2003
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
520 PM 2 N HICKORY NC 1.75 INCH HAIL
05/15/03 CATAWBA REPORT FROM AMATEUR RADIO
NET
RBNPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
558 PM EDT THU MAY 15 2003
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
545 PM FAIRVIEW NC 1.75 INCH HAIL
05/15/03 11 SE ASHEVILLE GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL
REPORTED IN FAIRVIEW
RBNPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
606 PM EDT THU MAY 15 2003
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
545 PM 7 E FAIRVIEW NC 1.75 INCH HAIL
05/15/03 BUNCOMBE SPOTTER REPORTED HAIL UP
TO GOLF BALL SIZE
COVERING GROUND.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
609 PM EDT THU MAY 15 2003
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
600 PM HILDEBRAN NC .75 INCH HAIL
05/15/03 BURKE FROM COUNTY COMMS CENTER
SVRGSPThe Greer radar (KGSP), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:20 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
This tornado destroyed a barn and caused roof damage to several houses and mobile homes. The porch of a church was destroyed. Numerous trees were also blown down.
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 historyThe tornado archive for North Carolina, 2003Warnings in North Carolina, 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: 5358213.