Lightning Strike in South Carolina, August 9, 2003

Name: Lightning Strike in South Carolina, August 9, 2003
Start: 2003-08-09T21:15
End: 2003-08-09T21:15
Location: South Carolina

August 9, 2003 · NWS GSP · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

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.

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

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $15,000
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 Aug 9, 9:05 PM EST, 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 9, 9:05 PM EST, 10 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1005 PM EDT SAT AUG 9 2003

EVENING UPDATE WILL CONCENTRATE ON ADJUSTING POPS BASED ON RADAR
TRENDS. WILL KEEP LIKELY POP ACROSS THE NC PIEDMONT ZONES INTO THE
EARLY MORNING HOURS BUT WILL DROP BACK TO CHANCE ELSEWHERE. WILL NOT
RULE OUT ADDITIONAL SHOWERS DEVELOPING FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS...
ALTHO THIS SEEMS A BIT LESS LIKELY THAN THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS
WITHOUT THE SHORT WAVE ENERGY ROTATING IN FROM THE SOUTHWEST. TEMPS
WILL BE ADJUSTED ONLY A DEGREE OR TWO HERE AND THERE.

.GSP...
GA...NONE.
NC...NONE.
SC...NONE.

MOORE

...PREVIOUS DISCUSSION ISSUED AT 720 PM...
HAVE SENT AN UPDATE ON THE ZFP TO ACCOUNT FOR WIDESPREAD PRECIP ON
RADAR MOVING ACROSS NC FOOTHILLS AND INTO THE PIEDMONT. HAVE RAISED
POP ACROSS THOSE ZONES...AND ALSO OVER WRN/SRN NC MOUNTAINS WHERE
CONVECTION PERSISTS. OTHER MAIN CHANGE WILL BE TO EXTEND SCATTERED
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT. LAST SEVERAL EVENINGS HAVE SEEN
CONVECTIVE REDEVELOPMENT DURING LATE EVENING HOURS AND INTO EARLY
MORNING. WITH VORT CENTER AND UPPER TROF AXIS STILL TO W...THINK
PERSISTENCE IS A GOOD IDEA. TEMPS LEFT ALONE FOR NOW. WILL UPDATE
AGAIN LATER THIS EVENING.

MOORE

...PREVIOUS DISCUSSION ISSUED AT 317 PM...
AFTERNOON CONVECTION IN FULL SWING...WITH DAYTIME HEATING AND DRY
AIR ALOFT OVER A MOIST BOUNDARY LAYER INTERACTING WITH A WEAK UPPER
VORT. NOT MUCH STORM MOVEMENT...SO CELLS WILL NEED TO BE WATCHED
CAREFULLY FOR POTENTIAL EXCESSIVE RAINFALL. WILL HOLD OFF ON FLOOD
WATCH AT THIS JUNCTURE. EXPECT MOST ACTIVITY TO FADE BY
EVENING...AND PER RECENT TRENDS...HAVE INCLUDED PATCHY DENSE FOG
WORDING OVERNIGHT.

SUNDAY COULD BE INTERESTING IF THE ETA IS CORRECT IN ITS HANDLING OF
A STRONG VORT WHICH PIVOTS ON THE BACK SIDE OF THE LONGWAVE TROF AND
APPROACHES OUR MOUNTAINS TOMORROW EVENING. TIME HEIGHTS SHOW VERY
DRY AIR IN THE MID LEVELS...WITH WET BULB ZEROES PROGD BELOW 10K
FEET ACROSS HIGHER TERRAIN AND BELOW 11K FEET FOOTHILLS. GFS IS
SLOWER...BRINGING ITS SHORTAVE INTO THE REGION LATER IN THE SUNDAY
NITE PERIOD. REGARDLESS...CHANCE POPS IN ORDER ALL AREAS...HIGHEST
IN THE NORTH AND WEST. BOTH MODELS KEEP THIS FEATURE IN OUR VICINITY
FOR MOST OF SUNDAY NITE...ALTHOUGH BETTER DPVA WILL BE LIMITED TO
OUR FOOTHILLS AND THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS. MODELS ALSO ADVERTISE A
30H JETLET ROUNDING THE UPPER TROF THAT ENHANCES UPPER DIVERGENCE
OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN.

UPPER PATTERN SHOWS SIGNS OF CHANGE BEGINNING MONDAY WITH SLOW
RETROGRADE OF THE UPPER TROF AND ALLOWING ATLANTIC RIDGING TO SLOWLY
BUILD INTO THE CAROLINAS. WILL MAINTAIN CHANCE POPS FOR ALL
AREAS...WITH INCREASED LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AND SLIGHTLY WARMER
TEMPERATURES.

FOR THE EXTENDED...MOST OF THE LONGER RANGE MODELS IN GENERAL
AGREEMENT KEEPING THE UPPER TROF TO OUR WEST. CANADIAN AND NOGAPS
QUITE INSISTENT ON PARKING A PIECE OF ATLANTIC RIDGING SQUARELY
OVER OUR FORECAST AREA. SURFACE BOUNDARY...MEANWHILE...MEANDERS
SLOWLY TO THE SOUTH...KEEPING POTENTIAL FOR UNSETTLED WEATHER FOR A
WHILE. KEPT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN THROUGH SATURDAY
FOR ALL OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA PORTIONS OF THE FORECAST
AREA. WE KEPT POPS BELOW CHANCE CATEGORY IN NORTH CAROLINA FRIDAY
AND SATURDAY...SINCE MOISTURE FLUX SHOULD BE CUT OFF FROM THOSE
AREAS IF RIDGE ALOFT DOES INDEED BUILD IN. INDICATED SLIGHT WARMING
OF TEMPERATURES THROUGH LATE WEEK...ALTHOUGH THERE IS BUST POTENTIAL
GIVEN INCREASINGLY LOW LEVEL UPSLOPE FLOW INTO THE REGION BY LATE
WEEK AND GFS HINTS THAT A SYSTEM OF TROPICAL ORIGIN MAY IMPACT
SOUTHEAST STATES AS NEXT WEEKEND NEARS.

FCSTID =   44
GSP   68  86  69  87 /  50  30  30  30
AND   68  87  69  88 /  50  30  30  30
CLT   69  86  69  87 /  50  30  30  30
HKY   65  85  66  86 /  50  40  40  40
AVL   63  82  64  83 /  50  40  40  40

BURRUS

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 9, 5:10 AM EST, 16 hours 5 minutes before

GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-091215-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
610 AM EDT SAT AUG 9 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA...
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA.

.DAY ONE...

AREAS OF MORNING FOG WILL GIVE WAY TO AN INCREASING THUNDERSTORM
COVERAGE AS THE DAY WEARS ON. LOCALIZED EXCESSIVE RAIN IS POSSIBLE
...AND EVEN A FEW SEVERE STORMS ARE NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION. FOR
FURTHER DETAILS...PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST SPECIAL WEATHER
STATEMENT...SPSGSP...ISSUED BY THIS OFFICE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

A DAILY CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS IS EXPECTED SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 9, 4:16 PM EST, 4 hours 59 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
516 PM EDT SAT AUG 09 2003

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

428 PM     SENECA                    SC   .75 INCH HAIL
08/09/03   OCONEE                         HAIL UP TO SIZE OF
                                          PENNIES AT WAL-MART.
                                          REPORTED BY PUBLIC.

427 PM     SENECA                    SC   WIND DAMAGE
08/09/03   OCONEE                         TREE DOWN ON VEHICLE ON
                                          SHEEP FARM RD. ALSO 0.50
                                          INCH HAIL. REPORTED BY
                                          SHERIFF.

MOORE

Local storm report, Aug 9, 7:12 PM EST, 2 hours 3 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
812 PM EDT SAT AUG 09 2003

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

730 PM     HILDEBRAN                 NC   FLASH FLOOD
08/10/03   BURKE                          SEVERAL SMALL STREAMS
                                          FLOODED ROADS AND A FISH
                                          POND OVERFLOWED AND
                                          FLOODED PART OF HIGHWAY
                                          70 REPORTED BY EOC

LANE

Local storm report, Aug 9, 8:11 PM EST, 1 hour 4 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
911 PM EDT SAT AUG 09 2003

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

810 PM     SUGAR HILL                NC   .75 INCH HAIL
08/10/03   MCDOWELL                       REPORTED BY EOC

LANE

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, York

When: August 9, 9:15 PM EST
Where: York County, Rock Hill
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 34.975, -81.184 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Lightning ignited a fire at a church.

What these are

Lightning: A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in South Carolina in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in South Carolina, August 2003

Sources

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: 5333290.