1 lightning, 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 Sep 4, 2:16 PM EST, 1 hour 14 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 316 PM EDT THU SEP 4 2003 FRONTAL BAND IS EXPANDING AND INTENSIFYING INTO A RESPECTABLE SQUALL LINE ACROSS THE UPSTATE AND SOUTHEERN NC PIEDMONT. MEANWHILE... PRECIP HAS FOR THE MOST PART SHIFTED EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS...SO WILL ALLOW NORTHERN MNTN FLOOD WATCH TO EXPIRE. FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING...ISOLATED SEVERE WILL BE THE MAIN CONCERN...AS LAPS SOUNDINGS INDICATE A QUITE UNSTABLE AIRMASS AHEAD OF THE SQUALL LINE...CAPES GENERALLY IN THE 2500 TO 3500 J/KG RANGE...AND DRIER MID/UPPER LEVEL AIR CONTINUES TO ADVECT INTO THE REGION BEHIND THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY. AS FAR AS EVENING POPS...WILL CARRY A LOW CHANCE ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS AND ADJACENT FOOTHILLS...AS SOME LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL LINGER IN THE POST FRONTAL ENVIRONMENT. OBVIOUSLY...THE HIGHEST POPS WILL RESIDE IN THE SOUTH AND EAST...AND WILL NEED TO ADVERTISE CATEGORICAL COVERAGE IN THESE AREAS. TOMORROW...MID/UPPER LEVEL TRY AIR ADVECTION CONTINUES ACROSS THE REGION...BUT A LIGHT EASTERLY LOW LEVEL FLOW WILL PROBABLY KEEP A FEW CLOUDS AROUND. DEPENDING UPON THE AMOUNT OF CLOUD COVER...WE COULD DESTABILIZE ENOUGH TO SEE SOME ISOLATED SHOWERS ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS...AND PERHAPS IN THE SOUTH NEAR THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY. FOR NOW...POPS WILL BE MAINTAINED IN THE UNMENTIONABLE CATEGORY. THE MAIN CONCERN FOR THIS PACKAGE PAST THIS EVENING CONCERNS THE FUTURE EVOLUTION OF T.D. 12. THE ETA AND GFS LIFT THIS FEATURE TOWARD THE NORTHERN FLORIDA PENINSULA OVER THE NEXT 24 TO 36 HOURS...AND THEN DIVERGE SIGNIFICANTLY. THE GFS MOVES THE SYSTEM RAPIDLY NORTHEAST ALONG THE SOUTHEAST COAST...WITH DEEP MOISTURE WRAPPING AROUND THE SYSTEM INTO OUR SOUTHERN ZONES OVER THE WEEKEND. MEANWHILE...THE ETA HAS THE SYSTEM WANDERING AIMLESSLY IN THE NORTHERN FL/SOUTHERN GA AREA THROUGH 84 HOURS. CONSIDERING THE GFS TRACK RECORD LATELY WITH TROPICAL SYSTEMS...HAVE NUDGED THE FORECAST A LITTLE MOE TOWARD THE GFS...WHICH LEADS TO THE INTRODUCTION OF CHANCE POPS ACROSS OUR SOUTHERN TIER OF ZONES OVER THE WEEKEND. FURTHER INTO THE EXTENDED...ANOTHER STRONG SW TROUGH WILL TRAVERSE SOUTHEAST CANADA EARLY NEXT WEEK...AND ALLOW A FRONT TO BACKDOOR ITS WAY INTO THE WESTERN CAROLINAS CIRCA TUESDAY. WITH NORTH TO NORTHEAST FLOW ALREADY IN PLACE AHEAD OF THE FRONT...IT APPEARS THAT MOISTURE AND CONVERGENCE WILL BE A BIT LACKING FOR PRECIPITATION... AND THE FORECAST WILL REMAIN DRY. THE MIDDLE TO LATTER PART OF NEXT WEEK WILL FEATURE A DRY AND COOL NORTHEAST FLOW. .GSP... GA...NONE. NC...NONE. SC...NONE. LANE
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-041200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 605 AM EDT THU SEP 4 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA... UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS MORNING...AND A FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS UNTIL NOON. THUNDERSTORMS WILL DIMINISH FROM THE WEST THIS AFTERNOON...BECOMING SCATTERED TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. 07
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
224 PM EDT THU SEP 04 2003
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
110 PM LAURENS SC WIND DAMAGE
09/04/03 LAURENS POWER LINES DOWN IN
LAURENS. COMMUNICATION
CENTER REPORT.
BURRUSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
225 PM EDT THU SEP 04 2003
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
150 PM 9 E LAURENS SC WIND DAMAGE
09/04/03 LAURENS COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS
CENTER REPORTED 2 TREES
DOWN ON BOND STREET IN
CLINTON. POWER LINES DOWN
ALSO.
BURRUSGAZ028-029-SCZ006>008-010>013-019-041915- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 227 PM EDT THU SEP 4 2003 ...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN AND FREQUENT LIGHTING AFFECTING PARTS OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA... AT 225 PM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A BROKEN LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDING FROM NEAR THE CITY OF SPARTANBURG SOUTHWEST TO HARTWELL IN NORTHEAST GEORGIA. THE STRONGEST CLUSTER OF STORMS IN THE LINE WAS OVER CENTRAL SPARTANBURG COUNTY. THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE WINDS OF 30 TO 40 MPH...TORRENTIAL RAIN AND FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTING AS MOVE NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH...AFFECTING SPARTANBURG...ROEBUCK...MOORE PAULINE AND EVENTUALLY PACOLET THROUGH 3 PM. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF AN INCH IN 30 MINUTES WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS. OTHER STRONG STORMS WERE BEGINNING TO DEVELOP OVER SOUTHEAST ANDERSON COUNTY...AND WILL AFFECT HONEA PATH BETWEEN 230 AND 3 PM. MCAVOY
GAZ028-029-SCZ006>014-019-042030- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 334 PM EDT THU SEP 4 2003 ...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN AND FREQUENT LIGHTING AFFECTING PARTS OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA... AT 330 PM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A BROKEN LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDING FROM NEAR THE CITY OF CLOVER IN NORTHERN CHESTER COUNTY...SOUTHWEST TO ELBERTON IN NORTHEAST GEORGIA. THE STRONGEST CLUSTER OF STORMS IN THE LINE WAS OVER WESTERN LAURENS COUNTY AND SOUTHERN SPARTANBURG COUNTY. THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE WINDS OF 30 TO 40 MPH...TORRENTIAL RAIN AND FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTING AS THEY MOVE NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. THROUGH 430 PM... THESE STORMS WILL AFFECT DUE WEST...LAURENS...UNION...HICKORY GROVE AND CHESTER. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF AN INCH IN 30 MINUTES WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS. ANOTHER STRONG STORM WAS DEVELOPING ACROSS HART AND ELBERT COUNTIES. THE STORM IS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT AROUND 25 MPH. LAMB
The Greer radar (KGSP), 82 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:32 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a house and an apartment complex, causing some minor 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, September 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: 5372138.