1 flash 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 22, 1:40 AM EST, 2 hours 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 240 AM EDT THU MAY 22 2003 SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS STATIONARY FRONT ALONG A LINE FROM RWI TO CAE AND MCN. IN OTHER WORDS...JUST S OF THE CWA. WEAK CAD IS TRYING TO WORK INTO THE NRN MOST ZONES ATTM. MSAS SHOWS PRESSURE RISES ON THE E SIDE OF THE MTNS AND PRESSURE FALLS OVER TN AND KY WHERE INVERTED TROF IS DEVELOPING UNDER AND AREA OF GOOD UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE. WATER VAPOR SHOWS THE BROAD LONG WAVE OVER THE ERN STATES GRADUALLY SETTLING SOUTH...WITH ONE RATHER WELL DEFINE SHORT WAVE OVER THE LOWER MS RIVER VALLEY. ENTRANCE REGION OF STRENGTHENING UPPER TROPOSPHERIC JET WL SIT OVER THE REGION TDA. THE JET SHIFTS JUST TO THE EAST OF THE REGION LATER TNGT AND FRI AS THAT SHORT WAVE CROSSES THE REGION...W/RESULTANT SFC WAVE DEVELOPING ALONG TMB...NEAR THE COAST. IT WL BE A CLOSE CALL ON HEAVY RAIN LATE TNGT AND FRI...BUT HEAVY PCPN WL DEFINITELY OCCUR OVER THE WRN CAROLINAS AND NE GA TDA... PARTICULARLY THE FOOTHILLS AND ERN SLOPES WHERE ETA HAS GOOD LLVL AGEO FLOW DEVELOPING. IN FACT...HEAVY RAIN IS ALREADY FILLING IN ACROSS THE CWFA. THE LLVL ADJUSTMENT ON THE ETA TAKES THE SFC WINDS SE...EVEN THOUGH THE PRESSURES ARE HIGHER ALONG THE ERN SLOPES. THAT IS AN INTERESTING SIGNAL...BUT WL KEEP WINDS NE AS THE CAD SHOULD WIN OUT OVER THE OTHER LLVL ADJUSTMENTS. LOOKS LIKE A COUPLE INCHES OF RAIN WL BE POSSIBLE JUST N OF THE SFC BNDRY THIS MORNING AND EARLY THIS AFTN...AND WL KEEP THE FFA FOR TDA AND TNGT. NOT AS IMPRESSED W/THE FORCING OVERNIGHT AS THE CONSOLIDATING SFC LOW WL PROBABLY RESULT IN DIMINISHED UPSLOPE AS DEEP LAYER NE FLOW DEVELOPS ON THE NW QUAD OF THE LOW. HOWEVER...THE CURRENT WATCH RUNS THROUGH TNGT...AND THERE IS A CHANCE THAT LLVL FORCING COULD KEEP PCPN AROUND INTO THE EVENING...SO WL KEEP THE FFA UP THROUGH TNGT. LATER TNGT AND FRI MODELS TAKE THE LOW OVER THE SC LOW COUNTY...W/ATTENDANT AREA UP UPGLIDE INDUCED PCPN MOST LIKELY CONFINED TO THE MIDLANDS AND POINTS EAST. GFS IS STILL FASTER...BUT BOTH MODELS KEEP US OUT OF THE AXIS OF HEAVIEST PCPN. CURRENT PCPN GRADIENT OVER THE CWA -- LIKELY ERN ZONES TO LOW CHANCE POPS FAR W -- LOOKS GOOD AND HAVE MADE ONLY MINOR CHANGES IN THE GRIDS TO MATCH UP W/OTHER OFFICES. EXTENDED...SURFACE RIDGE OVER AREA SUN WITH FRONT STALLED TO S. ANOTHER COLD FRONT CROSSES AREA MON...MOVING SLOWLY OFFSHORE BY TUE...AND STALLING TO S ON WED. MODELS TRY TO HOLD MARGINAL MOISTURE OVER AREA MUCH OF EXTENDED PERIOD. MAIN CHANGE WAS TO TRY TO CONSOLIDATE TIMING OF PRECIPITATION EPISODES TO MINIMIZE FLUCTUATIONS...THOUGH THAT IS WHAT MAY OCCUR IF MODEL MOISTURE AND FORCING MECHANISMS VERIFY. LITTLE CHANGE TO SKY/WIND/TEMPS. THANKS TO CHS FOR ORGANIZING THE HYDRO CONFERENCE CALL THIS MORNING. FCSTID = 14 GSP 67 59 71 57 / 100 70 50 20 AND 65 58 73 56 / 100 70 40 20 CLT 66 60 69 58 / 100 70 60 20 HKY 63 57 67 55 / 100 70 50 30 AVL 66 56 68 53 / 100 70 30 20 .GSP... GA...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR ZONES GAZ010... GAZ017>018...GAZ026...GAZ028>029. NC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR ZONES NCZ033>037... NCZ048>059...NCZ062>072...NCZ082. SC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR ZONES SCZ001>014...SCZ019. MCAVOY/07
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-211145- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 555 AM EDT WED MAY 21 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA... UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL SPREAD FROM WEST TO EAST ACROSS THE REGION TODAY. AS THE SHOWERS WILL BE SLOW MOVING...THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR SOME LOCALIZED FLOODING THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. SEE OUR PRODUCT CAEESFGSP FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THURSDAY...THURSDAY NIGHT AND INTO FRIDAY. EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE REGION...WITH THE BEST CHANCE EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS...ACROSS THE FOOTHILLS AND PIEDMONT OF THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA. THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS AGAIN NEXT SUNDAY AND MONDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED. MCAVOY
The Greer radar (KGSP), 14 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 09:29 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
After a period of heavy rainfall, flash flooding developed in areas from downtown Greenville to near Berea, as the Reedy River and some of its tributaries rose above flood stage.
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, 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: 5356666.