2 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 Columbia, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 19, 2:00 PM EST, 1 hour earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 300 PM EDT SAT JUL 19 2003 WEAK PREFRONTAL TROUGH OVER THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON AHEAD OF WEAK SOUTHEASTWARD MOVING COLD FRONT. AIRMASS AGAIN EXHIBITING STRONG INSTABILITY COUPLED WITH WEAK UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE GIVING RISE TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS. ISOLATED PULSE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING. UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE MOVES THROUGH OVERNIGHT RESULTING IN SOME DRYING ALOFT AS WEAK COLD FRONT WASHES OUT. THIS WILL RESULT IN CONTINUING LOW LEVEL MOISTURE ON SUNDAY. KEPT A SLIGHT CHANCE OF AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS SUNDAY NEAR AUGUSTA AS MEAN RELATIVE HUMIDITY STAYS ABOVE 50 PERCENT. SLIGHT DRY PUSH SHORTLIVED AS LONGWAVE TROUGH AMPLIFIES TO OUR WEST SENDING SEVERAL SHORTWAVES THROUGH THE AREA LATE MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THIS WILL RESULT IN THE CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS REMAINING ABOVE NORMAL EARLY THROUGH MID WEEK. AS THE LONGWAVE TROUGH PUSHES EAST AROUND THURSDAY A DRYING TREND WITH SLIGHTLY LOWER TEMPERATURES IS ANTICIPATED FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. FCSTID = 30 CAE 72 92 72 91 / 30 10 10 20 AGS 71 91 71 92 / 30 20 20 20 SSC 72 92 72 91 / 30 10 10 20 OGB 72 92 72 91 / 30 10 20 20 .CAE... GA...NONE. SC...NONE. RCC
GAZ040-063>065-077-SCZ015-016-018-020>022-025>031-035>038-041-191030- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 436 AM EDT SAT JUL 19 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE MIDLANDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE CENTRAL SAVANNAH RIVER AREA. .DAY ONE... THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE MIDLANDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE CENTRAL SAVANNAH RIVER AREA OF GEORGIA. THE MAIN THREAT IS DAMAGING WIND GUSTS. LARGE HAIL AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN ALSO POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED. AWP
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA, SC
326 PM EDT SAT JUL 19 2003
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
200 PM MCCORMICK SC WIND DAMAGE
07/19/03 10 NW MCCORMICK ONE TREE DOWN ALONG SC
HIGHWAY 81 NEAR
WILLINGTON. REPORT FROM
MCCORMICK COUNTY SHERIFF
DEPT.
215 PM 5 SE MCCORMICK SC WIND DAMAGE
07/19/03 MCCORMICK ONE TREE DOWN ALONG SC
HIGHWAY 28 NEAR PLUM
BRANCH. REPORT FROM
MCCORMICK COUNTY SHERIFF
DEPT.
BCThe Columbia radar (KCAE), 90 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:01 UTC.
2 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a tree then to a van and then blew a hole in the side of a home. The vans tires were flattened and the electrical system as fried. All electrical appliances, except for the refrigerator were lost.
Lightning struck a home in Spring Valley at 411 Bridgecrest Drive and caused $175,000 in damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Carolina in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in South Carolina, July 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: 5370920, 5370919.