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 6, 2:14 AM EST, 16 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
314 AM EDT TUE MAY 6 2003
MOIST FLOW TO CONT ACROSS SE US THRU THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS. ZONAL
FLOW ALOFT CONT BRINGING SHOTS OF SHRTWV ENERGY THRU CWA...
DECREASING STABILITY AND HELPING FIRE CONVECTION ACROSS THE AREA.
WEDGE BOUNDARY SLOWLY EDGING NE AND MAIN SHORT-TERM CONCERN IS FOR
STRONGER CONVECTION TO INITIATE ALONG THIS BOUNDARY. TEMPS WILL WARM
WITH DISAPPEARING WEDGE BUT WITH CLOUDS/RAIN MOST OF DAY...WILL
TREND HIGHS DOWN SLIGHTLY TOWARD COOLER ETA MOS.
EFFICIENT RAIN PRODUCTION HAS CREATED HYDROLOGIC CONCERNS AND AREAS
OF FLOODING ARE LIKELY TO EXPAND THRU MUCH OF THE DAY. HAVE ISSUED A
FLOOD WATCH FOR WHOLE CWA TODAY. RAIN IS EXPECTED TO TAPER OFF
OVERNIGHT WITH ANOTHER SURGE WED AS COLD FRONT PUSHES THRU THE AREA.
WARM FRONT IS FCST TO PUSH BACK N AND BRING ANOTHER CHANCE OF
SHWRS/TSTMS TO AREA THU/THU NIGHT. CHANCE SHWRS/TSTMS CONT INTO
FRI...PSBLY INTO SAT BUT WILL MAKE FEW CHANGES TO EXTENDED PERIODS.
FCSTID = 77
GSP 78 63 82 62 / 90 40 40 40
AND 79 63 83 61 / 90 40 40 40
CLT 80 62 83 62 / 90 40 40 40
HKY 76 61 80 61 / 90 40 40 40
AVL 73 58 78 57 / 90 50 50 40
.GSP...
GA...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY FOR ZONES GAZ010...GAZ017>018...GAZ026...
GAZ028>029.
NC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY FOR ZONES NCZ033>037...NCZ048>059...
NCZ062>072...NCZ082.
TORNADO WATCH THROUGH 800 AM FOR ZONE NCZ082.
SC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY FOR ZONES SCZ001>014...SCZ019.
TORNADO WATCH THROUGH 800 AM FOR ZONES SCZ011>014...SCZ047.
RBGAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-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
NCZ058-062-060245- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 956 PM EDT MON MAY 5 2003 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IS MONITORING A VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORM IN SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA. THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING SEVERE WEATHER. WHILE THE STRONGEST PART OF THE STORM WILL MOVE THROUGH CHEROKEE AND CLAY COUNTIES...PERSONS IN SOUTHERN GRAHAM AND MACON COUNTIES SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR STRONG GUSTY WINDS...FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND HAIL. LOCAL FLOODING IS POSSIBLE IN HEAVIER DOWNPOURS. MOTORISTS ARE URGED TO USE EXTREME CARE. MOST FLOOD FATALITIES OCCUR IN VEHICLES DURING THE NIGHT. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS DEVELOPING WEATHER SITUATION. DICARLO
GAZ010-060315- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 1015 PM EDT MON MAY 5 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IS MONITORING A VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORM IN SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA. THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING SEVERE WEATHER. AT 1015 PM RADAR INDICATED THE STORM WAS MOVING INTO CLAY COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA. IT IS EXPECTED TO MOVE SOOUTHEASTWARD ACROSS NORTHERN RABUN COUNTY BETWEEN 1030 AND 1100 PM. THIS STORM IS SLOWLY WEAKENING BUT IT CAN STILL PRODUCE STRONG GUSTY WINDS...FREQUENT LIGHTNING...HAIL AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. MOTORISTS IN RABUN COUNTY ARE URGED TO USE CAUTION IN THIS STORM. REMEMBER MOST FLOOD FATALITIES OCCUR IN VEHICLES AT NIGHT. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS DEVELOPING WEATHER SITUATION. DICARLO
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
1255 AM EDT TUE MAY 06 2003
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1245 AM 1 S DUNCAN SC 70 MPH TSTM GUST
05/06/03 SPARTANBURG AMATEUR RADIO REPORT
ESTIMATED WIND TO 70 MPH
JONESThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Persistent heavy rainfall resulted in slow rises and eventual flooding along the Little Tennessee and Cullasaja Rivers, as well as some smaller tributaries in the Needmore area.
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: 5357348.