3 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 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 May 5, 6:57 PM EST, 5 hours 37 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 757 PM EDT MON MAY 5 2003 A QUICK UPDATE TO LOWER POPS TO 80 PERCENT NORTHERN COUNTIES AND 60 PERCENT CENTRAL COUNTIES. THE 60 PERCENT IN THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES STILL OK. MUCH OF PRECIPITATION IS REMAINING TO THE NORTH AND FEEL THIS SHOULD BE MORE REPRESENTATIVE OF WHAT IS ACTUALLY GOING ON. IT LOOKS LIKE THERE WILL BE AT LEAST AN ISOLATED THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER. STORM RELATIVE HELICITIES REMAIN AROUND 400 CLOSE TO THE SLOW MOVING WARM FRONT. WINDS AT CAE HAVE RECENTLY BECOME SOUTHEAST ABOUT 10 KNOTS INDICATING THE WARM FRONT OUR VICINITY. THE FRONT IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE MOVING TO THE NORTH AND SHOULD BE ACROSS OUR NORTHERN TIER OF COUNTIES NEAR MIDNIGHT. MODELS CONTINUE GOOD LOW LEVEL WAA AND UPWARD LIFT THROUGH ABOUT 06Z AS SHORT WAVE MOVES THROUGH THE AREA. SHORT WAVE AND DYNAMICS ARE EAST OF HERE BY 09Z THOUGH AND THE MAIN THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER SHOULD BE OVER BY THAT TIME. STILL THINK TIMING OF POSSIBLE SEVERE WEATHER BETWEEN 9 PM AND 3 AM LOOKS GOOD WITH BEST DYNAMICS DURING THAT TIME. OTHERWISE LOW TEMPERATURES STILL LOOK OK. FCSTID = 7 CAE 68 89 69 89 / 60 40 30 30 AGS 68 89 67 89 / 60 40 30 30 SSC 67 89 66 87 / 60 40 30 30 OGB 68 89 67 89 / 60 40 30 30 .CAE... GA...NONE. SC...NONE. TTH THE FOLLOWING IS THE PREVIOUS FORECAST DISCUSSION. ************************************************************** AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 140 PM EDT MON MAY 5 2003 THE MAIN FORECAST PROBLEM IS THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLOOD THREAT TONIGHT. SATELLITE SHOWS THE HIGH MOISTURE AND SHEAR WITH LOW CLOUDINESS MOVING NORTHWARD FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO AND HIGH CLOUDINESS RAPIDLY STREAMING WESTWARD. EXPECT THE WARM FRONT THAT EXTENDS THROUGH THE SOUTH PART OF THE FORECAST AREA EARLY THIS AFTERNOON WILL EXTEND THROUGH THE CENTRAL OR NORTH PART TONIGHT. THE LATEST MSAS SHOWS LI/S NEAR -5 SOUTH AND WEST OF THE FORECAST AREA SO THE ETA/S FORECAST OF MODERATE INSTABILITY MOVING INTO THE FORECAST AREA APPEARS REASONABLE SO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MAY OCCUR. THE STRONG SHEAR ASSOCIATED WITH THE WARM FRONT MAY ALSO HELP CAUSE TORNADOES. EXPECT THE GREATEST THREAT BETWEEN 00Z AND 06Z TONIGHT AHEAD OF AN H5 SHORTWAVE SHOWN BY THE RUC AND ETA. THE MAIN PROBLEM MAY BECOME FLOODING LATE TONIGHT. THE ETA FORECASTS PRECIPITABLE WATER NEAR 2 INCHES AT 06Z AND TRAINING MAY OCCUR ALONG THE WEST-EAST FRONT...PROBABLY ACROSS THE NORTH PART OF THE FORECAST AREA. A FLOOD WATCH MAY BE NEEDED LATER TONIGHT. EXPECT LESS THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. THE FRONT SHOULD BE NORTH OF THE AREA...BUT A WEAK LEE TROUGH AND A SERIES OF DIFFICULT TO TIME H5 SHORT WAVE TROUGHS SUPPORTS KEEPING CHANCE POPS. THE ETA CONTINUES TO FORECAST MODERATE INSTABILITY AND A STRONG WIND FIELD SO A SEVERE THREAT WILL CONTINUE. BASED ON CURRENT RADAR WILL USE THE HIGHER GUIDANCE POPS TONIGHT... ESPECIALLY IN THE NORTH PART. OTHERWISE...PLAN TO USE THE GUIDANCE CONSENSUS FOR POPS AND TEMPERATURES. EXTENDED...PLAN TO LOWER POPS TO SLIGHT CHANCE. THE MRF CONTINUES TO KEEP THE FRONT NORTH OF THE FORECAST AREA. GENERALLY PLAN TO USE THE ENSEMBLE MEAN FOR POPS AND TEMPERATURES EXCEPT WILL FORECAST PERSISTENT TEMPERATURES AND NOT USE THE COOLING TREND TOWARD CLIMATOLOGY PER HPC GUIDANCE. FCSTID = 5 CAE 68 89 69 89 / 70 40 30 30 AGS 68 89 67 89 / 50 40 30 30 SSC 67 89 66 87 / 70 40 30 30 OGB 68 89 67 89 / 50 40 30 30 .CAE... GA...NONE. SC...NONE. RJL
GAZ040-063>065-077-SCZ015-016-018-020>022-025>031-035>038-041-051115- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 524 AM EDT MON MAY 5 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE MIDLANDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE CENTRAL SAVANNAH RIVER AREA. .DAY ONE... AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE LATER TODAY. LARGE HAIL AND WIND GUSTS TO 65 MPH ARE POSSIBLE. THESE STORMS COULD PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME AND FLASH FLOODING MAY BE A CONCERN IN LOW LYING AND FLOOD PRONE AREAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED FOR TUESDAY AS AN UNSTABLE AND MOIST AIRMASS WILL REMAIN OVER THE AREA. AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE. SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED. JDB
The Columbia radar (KCAE), 66 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 05:31 UTC.
3 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
An F1 tornado went through Johnston and destroyed one 12x24' wood frame building, damaged a couple of businesses and a few homes. The tornado hit in exactly the same spot that an F2 hit almost 5 years ago to the date!
An F0 briefly touched down and took some trees down in Ward.
An F1 tornado touched down on I-20 from mile marker 30 to 31 and moved northeast to Three Notch road (SC289). Numerous trees were taken down and moderate damage was done to two 12x24' sheds.
SKYWARN spotters reported trees down in central and northern Lexington county on hwy 391, Devils Backbone road, and at the Ponderosa Country Club.
Sheriff reported flooding across hwy 20 over the bridge and closed the road.
Sheriff reported some trees down in Pelion.
Sheriff reported flooding across hwy 23 in Ridge Springs and closed the road.
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 historyThe tornado archive for South Carolina, 2003Warnings 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: 5352900, 5352901, 5352902, 5352903, 5352905, 5352904, 5352906.