South Carolina, 2003Tornado in South Carolina, April 21, 2003
April 21, 2003 · NWS GSP · 1 event in 1 county or zone
1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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 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 Apr 21, 2:04 PM EST, 3 hours 1 minute earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 21, 2:04 PM EST, 3 hours 1 minute before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
304 PM EDT MON APR 21 2003
LEADING AREA OF SHRA AND EMBEDDED TSRA MOVING OVER UPSTATE AND NC
PIEDMONT ATTM. ATMOS BECOMING MORE UNSTABLE OVER MTNS AND SRN
SECTIONS OF CWFA. SPC HAS OUTLOOKED NC MTNS FOR CONTINUED
POSSIBILITY OF ISOLATED SVR LATE THIS AFTERNOON BEFORE FROPA. WILL
LEAVE CHC POP THERE AND GO LIKELY POP EARLY GA/SC AND NC PIEDMONT.
LOWS TONIGHT WARMER ERN SECTIONS.
AFTER SOME WRAP AROUND CLOUDS AND POSSIBLY A SPRINKLE OR TWO NRN
MTNS EARLY TUE...TRANQUIL WX PATTERN SETS UP THRU WED NITE. DRY HIGH
PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE AREA. HIGHS NEAR OR JUST BELOW NORMAL WITH
BELOW NORMAL LOWS. IN FACT...WILL NEED TO WATCH FOR FROST NC MTNS
WED NITE. LIKELY TOO MUCH WIND TUE NITE...BUT WILL NEED TO KEEP IN
MIND.
MOISTURE RETURNS THU AHEAD OF THE NEXT WX SYSTEM THAT MOVES THRU THE
AREA SATURDAY. MDLS HINTING AT POSSIBLE PRECIP LATE THU/THU NITE.
THIS IS FASTER THAN PREVIOUS RUNS. WILL FOLLOW HPC LEAD LEAVE DRY
FOR NOW...CONFINING POPS TO FRI/SAT. COOL TEMPS DURING THE PRECIP
THEN WARMING TREND SUN/MON.
FCSTID = 81
GSP 52 72 43 71 / 40 0 0 0
AND 52 72 45 72 / 40 0 0 0
CLT 54 72 45 71 / 60 0 0 0
HKY 52 69 43 69 / 30 0 0 0
AVL 48 66 39 67 / 30 10 0 0
.GSP...
GA...NONE.
NC...NONE.
SC...NONE.
RWH
Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 21, 4:54 AM EST, 12 hours 11 minutes before
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-211200-
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
554 AM EDT MON APR 21 2003
THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA...
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA.
.DAY ONE...TODAY
AREAS OF DENSE FOG WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE MID MORNING ACROSS THE
AREA TO THE SOUTH OF A LINE FROM CARNESVILLE TO HARTWELL...
ANDERSON...AND CLINTON. A DENSE FOG ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL
10 AM. FOR MORE INFORMATION...SEE THE NPWGSP PRODUCT ISSUED AT 343
AM.
THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION TODAY AHEAD OF A COLD
FRONT. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS GENERALLY TO
THE NORTH OF A LINE FROM TAYLORSVILLE TO STATESVILLE AND
SALISBURY...BUT A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ELSEWHERE
ACROSS THE REGION. FOR MORE DETAILS...SEE THE SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
(SPSGSP) ISSUED AT 430 AM.
.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...
NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED.
MOORE
Tornado, Abbeville
- When
- April 21, 5:05 PM EST to 5:06 PM EST
- Where
- Abbeville County, 5 mi S of Abbeville
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 0.3 mi
- Path width
- 100 yd
- Reported by
- NWS STORM SURVEY
- Coordinates
- 34.117, -82.383
A tornado touched down briefly in the Parsons Mountain area of the Sumter National Forest, blowing down several hundred trees along its 1/4 mile track.
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
- Damaging Wind in Illinois, April 21, 2003$40,000 · 57 kt wind · 1 event
- Heavy Rain and Strong Wind in California, April 21, 2003$15,000 · 4 events
- High Surf in Hawaii, April 21 to 23, 20036 events
- Hail and Lightning Strikes in Georgia, April 21, 2003$5,000 · 1 in hail · 5 events
- Hail and Damaging Winds in South Carolina, April 21, 200355 kt wind · 4 events
- Flooding in Wisconsin, April 21 to 25, 20032 events
- Damaging Wind in Colorado, April 21, 200360 kt wind · 1 event
- Damaging Wind in Georgia, April 21, 200350 kt wind · 1 event
- Damaging Wind in South Carolina, April 21, 200365 kt wind · 1 event
- Damaging Wind in South Carolina, April 21, 200360 kt wind · 1 event
- Flash Flood in Georgia, April 21, 20031 event
- Flash Flood in South Carolina, April 21, 20031 event
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5355154.