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 Aug 19, 2:33 AM EST, 27 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 333 AM EDT THU AUG 19 2004 .SHORT TERM (TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT)... AN UPPER RIDGE WILL DEVELOP OVER THE WESTERN CAROLINAS TODAY...IN ADVANCE OF A SOUTHERN PLAINS TROUGH. ALTHOUGH THE RESULTANT MID LEVEL WARMING IS NOT EXPECTED TO COMPLETELY CAP THE ATMOSPHERE...IT SHOULD ACT TO LIMIT AFTERNOON CONVECTION. IN ADDITION...WEST AND NORTHWEST LOW LEVEL FLOW SHOULD PROVIDE SOME DEGREE OF DRYING EAST OF THE BLUE RIDGE. WITH THESE FACTORS IN MIND...HAVE DECIDED TO LIMIT SLIGHT CHANCE POPS TO THE HIGHER TERRAIN FOR THIS AFTERNOON. THE RIDGE BREAKS DOWN RATHER QUICKLY ON FRIDAY...AS THE UPPER TROUGH APPROACHES THE SOUTHEAST STATES. RESULTANT DEEP SOUTHWEST FLOW WILL ALLOW FOR AN INCREASE IN DEEP LAYER RH BY LATE FRIDAY. THIS SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO ALLOW WIDELY SCATTERED CONVECTION TO DEVELOP OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN BY LATE AFTERNOON. A DECENT LOW LEVEL JET (FOR AUGUST ANYWAY) DEVELOPS IN ADVANCE OF THE TROUGH AND ASSOCIATED FRONTAL BOUNDARY FRIDAY NIGHT. CONSIDERING THE DEPTH OF THE MOISTURE...WE COULD SEE CONVECTION CONTINUE WELL AFTER SUNSET...SO POPS HAVE BEEN EXTENDED THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. && .LONG TERM (SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY)... THE GFS AND ETA ARE IN VERY GOOD AGREEMENT CONCERNING TIMING OF THE FRONT...PLACING THE BOUNDARY W/IN THE NC MNTNS BY EARLY SATURDAY EVENING. DESPITE THIS TIMING...POPS HAVE BEEN INCREASED TO 50% IN ALL AREAS SATURDAY AFTERNOON...AS THE PRESENCE OF LAYER RH VALUES IN EXCESS OF 75%...COMBINED W/ WEAK DISTURBANCES MOVING THROUGH THE SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT SHOULD ALLOW FOR DECENT COVERAGE...EVEN WELL AHEAD OF THE FRONT. CONSENSUS OF MODEL SOLUTIONS CLEARS THE FRONT FROM THE AREA BY SUNDAY MORNING...SO WILL CONTINUE TO FORECAST DRY WEATHER AND NORMAL TO SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES FOR EARLY NEXT WEEK. && .AVIATION... VERY GOOD RADIATIONAL CONDITIONS THIS MORNING WITH LIGHT WINDS AND ONLY SOME THIN CI INVADING FROM THE NW. EXPECT WIDESPREAD MVFR FOG WITH IFR BY DAYBREAK AT THE USUALLY FOGGIER SITES OF KAND AND KAVL. NOT AS MUCH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE OR UPSLOPE FLOW AS THE PREVIOUS FEW DAYS...SO DO NOT EXPECT THE LOW STRATUS TO DEVELOP BUT DID PUT A FEW010 AT ALL LOCATIONS. ONLY LOW CIGS WOULD POSSIBLY BE AN INDEFINITE CEILING DUE TO FOG. VFR BY 15Z...THEN WINDS BECOMING SWLY WITH SCT CU. CONVECTIVE CHANCE VERY LOW SO NO MENTION ATTM. && .GSP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... GA...NONE. NC...NONE. SC...NONE. && SHORT TERM/LONG TERM...LANE AVIATION...RWH
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 559 AM EDT WED AUG 18 2004 GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-191000- ABBEVILLE SC-ALEXANDER NC-ANDERSON SC-AVERY NC-BUNCOMBE NC-BURKE NC- CABARRUS NC-CALDWELL NC-CATAWBA NC-CHEROKEE SC-CHESTER SC- CLEVELAND NC-DAVIE NC-ELBERT GA-FRANKLIN GA-GASTON NC-GRAHAM NC- GREATER GREENVILLE SC-GREATER OCONEE SC-GREATER PICKENS SC- GREENVILLE MOUNTAINS SC-GREENWOOD SC-HABERSHAM GA-HART GA-HAYWOOD NC- HENDERSON NC-IREDELL NC-LAURENS SC-LINCOLN NC-MACON NC-MADISON NC- MCDOWELL NC-MECKLENBURG NC-MITCHELL NC-NORTHERN JACKSON NC- OCONEE MOUNTAINS SC-PICKENS MOUNTAINS SC-POLK NC-RABUN GA-ROWAN NC- RUTHERFORD NC-SOUTHERN JACKSON NC-SPARTANBURG SC-STEPHENS GA- SWAIN NC-TRANSYLVANIA NC-UNION SC-UNION NC-YANCEY NC-YORK SC- 559 AM EDT WED AUG 18 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA... UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA. .DAY ONE... AN AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT THE NORTH CAROLINA PIEDMONT THIS MORNING. SLOW MOVEMENT OF THESE SHOWERS AND STORMS COULD RESULT IN LOCALIZED FLOODING. ISOLATED TO WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL...AND POSSIBLY BRIEF PERIODS OF DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... ISOLATED TO WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING ON THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. SHOWERS AND STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME A BIT MORE WIDESPREAD OVER THE WEEKEND...AS A COLD FRONT MOVES OVER THE AREA. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. LANE
The Greer radar (KGSP), 78 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 08:00 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a water plant, damaging the phone system and a pump system, resulting in a loss of service for 2000 customers.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Carolina in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, August 2004
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: 5419780.