1 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 May 5, 2:20 PM EST, 2 hours 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 320 PM EDT MON MAY 5 2003 CAD HAS REMAINED FIRMLY IN PLACE ACROSS THE FOOTHILLS AND PIEDMONT THIS AFTERNOON. 18 SFC ANALYSIS SHOWED THAT THE TMB WAS STILL S OF THE CWA ALONG A LINE FROM LZU... AHN... CAE AND FLO. 12 UTC ETA WAS TOO QUICK TO ERODE THE WEDGE... W TEMP AND DWPT ERRORS AT 18 UTC OF 10 TO 15 DEG F OVER THE UPSTATE AND SRN NC FOOTHILLS AND PIEDMONT. OVERNIGHT...GFS GENERATES AN H5 CONVECTIVE VORT WHICH CROSSES THE MTNS FROM 6 TO 12 UTC. THE ETA GENERATES A WEAKER VORT...THOUGH THE TIMING AND LOCATION IS NOT MUCH DIFFERENT FROM THE GFS. BOTH OF THESE VORTS ARE THE SPAWN OF ONGOING CONVECTION OVER AL...GA AND TN. CONVECTION SHOULD TRANSITION FROM SUPERCELLS AND SMALL INTENSE MCS/S TO A LARGER MCS THAT SHOULD AFFECT A GOOD BIT OF THE CWA DURING THE NIGHTTIME HOURS. HARD TO SAY WHO GETS THE MOST RAIN...BUT THE CONSENSUS FROM SPC AND COORD W/SURROUNDING OFFICES IN THAT THE NC MNTS AND THE WRN UPSTATE...PER THE STRENGTHENING SW LLVL FLOW...SHOULD SEE THE MOST RAIN. SINCE THE SW MTNS HAVE ALREADY HAD A FAIR AMOUNT OF RAIN TDA...HAVE ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR THE SRN AND CENTRAL NC MTNS...THE WRN UPSTATE AND NE GA. WHILE LINEAR CONVECTION SHOULD BECOME THE DOMINATE MODE LATER TNGT...THERE IS STILL A CHANCE THAT SUPERCELLS COULD AFFECT BOTH THE TN BORDER COUNTIES...AS WELL AS THE STRONG THERMAL/MOISTURE DISCONTINUITY ACROSS THE SRN ZONES. WL WORD ZONES W/POTENTIAL FOR DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL. APPEARS THAT ELEVATED CONVECTION MAY LAST UNTIL THE MID MORNING HRS TMRW. WL GO LIKELY IN THE MORNING...W/CHANCE POPS IN THE AFTN. HOWEVER...SINCE THE WEDGE WL BE GONE BY WED AFTN...AND DEEP WSW FLOW WL BE IN PLACE W/0-6KM SHEAR OF 40+ KTS...POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR MORE ORGANIZED CONVECTION IN THE AFTN...MOST LIKELY DEVELOPING ON THE HIGHER TERRAIN AND ORGANIZING IN THE LEE TROUGH. W/HIGHER T/TD DELTAS...WIND WL BE THE BIGGEST CONCERN EXCEPT FOR A COUPLE SUPERCELLS EARLY ON RIGHT ALONG THE ESCARPMENT. WED THE MID LEVEL FLOW STILL IS ON THE ORDER OF 50 KTS...THOUGH THE ETA WANTS TO DRY THINGS OUT QUITE A BIT IN THE LLVLS. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY IT IS DOING THIS...AND THINK AFTN CONVECTION WL ONCE AGAIN DEVELOP W/A MODE SIMILAR TO TMRWS. NOT MUCH CHANGE TO THE EXTENDED. W/MESOSCALE BNDRYS AND MID LEVEL FLOW STILL RATHER STRONG...HARD TO SAY WHICH DAYS WL BE QUIET. HOWEVER...W/HGHTS RISING A LITTLE OVER THE REGION...WL PAIR BACK POPS FOR THE WEEKEND. FCSTID = 14 GSP 64 80 64 82 / 90 70 30 40 AND 64 81 64 83 / 80 60 30 40 CLT 64 82 63 83 / 90 70 30 40 HKY 60 79 62 80 / 90 70 30 50 AVL 60 77 59 78 / 90 70 30 50 .GSP... GA...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT AND TUE MORNING FOR ZONES GAZ010...GAZ017>018. NC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT AND TUE MORNING FOR ZONES NCZ048...NCZ051>053...NCZ058>059...NCZ062>065. SC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT AND TUE MORNING FOR ZONES SCZ001>002...SCZ004>005. MCAVOY
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-051100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 453 AM EDT MON MAY 5 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... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED TODAY. RB
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A prolonged period of heavy rainfall resulted in gradual rises along creeks and streams, which eventually began flooding by the evening of the 5th. By the morning of the 6th, the flooding had become quite serious, with several bridges washed out.
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, 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: 5357281.