1 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, 3:27 PM EST, 4 hours 33 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 427 PM EDT THU MAY 22 2003 MAIN CONCERN IS SHORT TERM FLOODING...ONGOING ACROSS PARTS OF PIEDMONT. KGSP RADAR SHOWS BACK EDGE OF PRECIP MOVING EAST. STILL HAVE POTENTIAL FOR ADDITIONAL FLOODING ACROSS THE AREA MAINLY ALONG AND S OF INTERSTATE 85...WEST OF GREENVILLE. THE FLOOD WATCH WILL BE DROPPED ACROSS THE NW PIEDMONT/NRN FOOTHILLS/ALL THE MOUNTAINS/AND W OF A LINE FROM GREEVILLE TO ANDERSON AND ELBERTON. WATCH WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT ACROSS ALL OTHER AREAS UNTIL IT CAN BE DROPPED AS FLOOD POTENTIAL GOES DOWN...MOST LIKELY SOME TIME THIS EVENING. HAVE FOLLOWED CLOSER TO THE GFS SOLUTION FOR THIS FORECAST...AT LEAST FOR THE NEXT 36 HOURS OR SO. THE GFS SEEMS TO HAVE A BETTER HANDLE ON THE TRACK OF THE LOW...CLOSER TO THE COAST...THAN THE ETA. THE ETA APPEARS TO BE SUFFERING FROM SOME SORT OF PROBLEM WITH ITS PRECIP FIELD AS WELL...AS IT GENERATES AN ADDITIONAL 5 INCHES OF PRECIP ACROSS CHARLOTTE BY FRIDAY EVENING. THIS APPEARS TO BE WAY OVERDONE. WILL KEEP HIGH POP OVER THE EAST...CATEGORICAL ALONG AND EAST OF I-77...FOR TONITE. STEADIER RAIN SHOULD MOVE OUT DURING THE EVENING...LEAVING SHOWERS BEHIND. FOR FRIDAY...BEST CHANCE FOR PRECIP WILL BE OVER THE EAST AS SURFACE LOW PASSES...AS DEPICTED BY GFS. WILL PUT LIKELY POP OVER THE EAST...BUT LOW CHANCE OVER THE WEST AS GFS PRECIP LOOKS OVERDONE ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS. FOR TEMPS...HAVE FOLLOWED COOLER MAV GUIDANCE ON FRIDAY...AND A SPLIT BETWEEN MAV/FWC FRIDAY NIGHT. FOR SATURDAY...WEAK SHORT WAVE ENERGY WILL ROTATE AROUND THE UPPER LOW WHILE MODELS HINT AT LEE TROFFING. SHOULD BE ENOUGH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AROUND WITH INSTABILITY ACROSS THE PIEDMONT TO ALLOW FOR AFTERNOON CONVECTION ACROSS THE NC FOOTHILLS AND PIEDMONT. WILL LIMIT THIS TO ONLY SLIGHT CHANCE FOR NOW...BUT HAVE A FEELING WE WILL END UP HAVING TO GO WITH A CHANCE. FOR THE MEDIUM RANGE...THE GFS/ECMWF ARE IN REASONABLE AGREEMENT WITH KEEPING A CLOSED LOW OVER THE EASTERN GREAT LAKES/NRN MID ATLANTIC THRU AT LEAST WEDNESDAY. ON THURSDAY...WILL FOLLOW HPC THINKING THAT CLOSED LOW SHOULD NOT MOVE OUT SO FAST. SOME SHORTWAVE ENERGY SHOULD ROTATE AROUND THE BOTTOM OF THE UPPER LOW AND ACROSS THE FCST AREA SUNDAY NITE/MONDAY. PLAN ON KEEPING A CHANCE POP FOR SUNDAY NITE/MONDAY SIMILAR TO THE CANADIAN/06Z GFS...AND CONTRARY TO NUMERICAL GUIDANCE WHICH SUGGESTS A DRIER FORECAST. AFTER MONDAY... THE UPPER PATTERN WILL KEEP A RELATIVELY DRY NW FLOW ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA. AS FOR TEMPS...HAVE FOLLOWED BLEND OF HPC GUIDANCE AND ENSEMBLE MOS CLOSELY. FCSTID = 10 GSP 59 71 57 77 / 50 50 30 10 AND 60 73 56 78 / 30 40 30 10 CLT 60 69 58 76 / 90 60 50 10 HKY 57 67 55 75 / 70 50 30 20 AVL 55 68 53 74 / 30 30 30 10 .GSP... GA...NONE. NC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT FOR ZONES NCZ066>072...NCZ082. SC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT FOR ZONES SCZ003...SCZ006>009... SCZ011>014...SCZ019. MOORE
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-221200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 616 AM EDT THU MAY 22 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA... UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY WIDESPREAD MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN WILL FALL ACROSS THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA TODAY. LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING IS POSSIBLE. THE HEAVIEST RAIN IS EXPECTED THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON...WITH A DECREASE IN INTENSITY THEREAFTER. HEAVY RAIN MAY REDEVELOP LATER TONIGHT ALONG AND EAST OF A LINE FROM ANDERSON TO CHARLOTTE TO STATESVILLE. SEE OUR PRODUCT CAEFFAGSP FOR MORE INFORMATION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... AS LOW PRESSURE MOVES UP THE COAST ON FRIDAY...THE BACK EDGE OF AN AREA OF HEAVY RAIN MAY AFFECT AREAS ALONG AND EAST OF A LINE FROM CHARLOTTE TO STATESVILLE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE LIKELY TODAY FOR THE PURPOSE OF MONITORING STREAM LEVELS AND REPORTING RAINFALL AMOUNTS. MCAVOY
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A creek flooded a bridge on the West Springs Highway. Some tributaries of the Broad River flooded eastern portions of the county.
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: 5358877.