South Carolina, 2003

Tornado in South Carolina, July 2, 2003

July 2, 2003 · NWS GSP · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

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

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$1,000
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 Jul 1, 9:26 PM EST, 3 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 1, 9:26 PM EST, 3 hours before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1026 PM EDT TUE JUL 1 2003

HEAVY RAIN STILL MOVING THRU THE AREA. THIS WILL CONTINUE THRU THE
NEXT SEVERAL HOURS AS BEST LIFT ASSOCIATED WITH REMNANTS OF BILL
MOVING OVER RIGHT NOW. FLOOD THREAT CONTINUES. UPDATING FCST TO
REMOVE WATCH. HAVE CHANGED THUNDER WORDING TO CHANCE. TEMPS ALREADY
BELOW FCST LOWS IN MOST PLACES. WILL LOWER ACROSS THE NC MTNS AND
WORD AS STEADY ELSEWHERE. A FEW TOUCH UP TO WINDS AS WELL. NO
CHANGES TO LATER PERIODS.

.GSP...
GA...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR ZONES
GAZ010...GAZ017>018...GAZ026...GAZ028>029.

NC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR ZONES
NCZ033>037...NCZ048>059...NCZ062>072...NCZ082.

SC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR ZONES
SCZ001>014...SCZ019.

RWH
Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 1, 5:00 AM EST, 19 hours 26 minutes before
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-011145-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
600 AM EDT TUE JUL 1 2003

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

.DAY ONE...TODAY

THE REMNANTS OF TROPICAL STORM BILL WILL MOVE NORTHEAST ACROSS THE
DEEP SOUTH TODAY AND THEN MOVE JUST WEST OF THE SOUTHERN
APPALACHIANS BY TONIGHT. HEAVY TROPICAL RAINFALL WILL IMPACT THE
WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA STARTING TODAY. A FLOOD
WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT...AND DETAILS ARE
AVAILABLE IN THE PRODUCT FFAGSP.

INSTABILITY IN THE TROPICAL AIRMASS WILL COMBINE WITH INCREASING
WINDS TO CREATE THE POTENTIAL FOR DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND ISOLATED
TORNADOES TO DEVELOP LATER TODAY AND TONIGHT. FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION ON THE SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL...SEE THE SEVERE WEATHER
OUTLOOK...SPSGSP.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

FLOODING WILL REMAIN POSSIBLE ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH WEDNESDAY
NIGHT...AS MAIN STEM RIVERS RESPOND TO ANY HEAVY RAIN THAT HAS
FALLEN ACROSS THE AREA.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY LIKELY BY LATE TODAY.

HG

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 1, 9:52 PM EST, 2 hours 34 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
1052 PM EDT TUE JUL 01 2003

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

1001 PM    FRANKLIN                  NC   MUDSLIDE
07/01/03   MACON                          MACON EOC REPORTED
                                          NUMEROUS TREES DOWN ALL
                                          OVER COUNTY...ALONG WITH
                                          SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES.
                                          MOST LIKELY DUE TO
                                          MUDSLIDES.

JRL

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 05:26 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Laurens

When
July 2, 12:26 AM EST to 12:31 AM EST
Where
Laurens County, 3 mi SW of Waterloo
Rating
F0
Path length
3 mi
Path width
200 yd
Property damage
$1,000
Reported by
NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates
34.317, -82.100

This weak tornado blew down numerous large tree limbs as well as a few large trees as it tracked from just east of Lake Greenwood to the town of Waterloo. Some crops were damaged near Waterloo.

What these are

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.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in South Carolina in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for South Carolina, 2003Warnings in South Carolina, July 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: 5330267.