1 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 23, 2:08 PM EST, 3 hours 32 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 308 PM EDT SUN MAY 23 2004 .SHORT TERM... LEE TROUGH IS CURRENTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR DECENT COVERAGE OF CONVECTION ACROSS THE NC FOOTHILLS. STRONGER FLOW IS RESULTING IN FASTER MOVEMENT OF CELLS THAN HAS BEEN OBSERVED IN PREVIOUS DAYS...AND LEE CONVECTION SHOULD SUSTAIN ITSELF AS IT MOVES EAST INTO SLIGHTLY MORE UNSTABLE AIR ACROSS THE FAR WESTERN PIEDMONT. CONVECTION SHOULD BE LARGELY DIURNAL...ALTHOUGH OUTFLOW INTERACTIONS SHOULD ALLOW CONVECTION TO PERSIST FOR AT LEAST A COUPLE OF HOURS AFTER SUNSET. THREAT OF PULSE SEVERE WILL CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING HOURS...ALTHOUGH SHEAR MAY BE JUST STRONG ENOUGH TO SUPPORT A MULTICELL CLUSTER OR TWO. SW TROUGH AND ASSOCIATED SURFACE LOW TRAVERSING THE NORTHEAST U.S. ON MONDAY WILL RESULT IN LOW LEVEL FLOW WITH A STRONG WESTERLY COMPONENT ACROSS OUR AREA. THE ETA MIXES OUT DEWPOINT IN THE LEE TO THE LOW TO MID 60S TOMORROW...WHICH MAKES SENSE WITHIN THE DOWNSLOPE REGIME. HOWEVER...LEE TROUGH SHOULD ONCE AGAIN BE IN PLACE TO PROVIDE FOCUS FOR CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT. IN ADDITION...SHEAR WILL INCREASE JUST A BIT MORE TOMORROW...INCREASING THE LIKELIHOOD OF CONVECTION BECOMING ORGANIZED ALONG OUTFLOWS LAID DOWN BY HIGH TERRAIN OR LEE TROUGH CONVECTION. MOS POPS TOMORROW ARE VERY LOW...PROBABLY DUE TO THE WESTERLY FLOW...BUT OUR FORECAST WILL FEATURE CHANCE POPS ACROSS ROUGHLY THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE AREA (BASICALLY ALL AREAS IN AND EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS)...WITH SILENT 20S SOUTH. WILL ESSENTIALLY USE THIS SAME ARGUMENT TO JUSTIFY HIGHER POPS FOR TUESDAY. .LONG TERM... THINGS BEGIN TO GET A LITTLE MORE INTERESTING ACROSS THE AREA DURING MID-WEEK...AS THE TRAIN OF NORTHERN U.S. SW TROUGHS CONTINUES TO FLATTEN THE RIDGE ACROSS THE DEEP SOUTH. THIS WILL ALLOW THE STATIONARY FRONTAL BOUNDARY ACROSS THE OHIO VALLEY TO SAG CLOSE TO...OR PERHAPS INTO THE CWFA DURING MID-TO-LATE WEEK. AT THE VERY LEAST...THIS WILL RENDER THE NORTHERN PART OF OUR AREA SUSCEPTIBLE TO MCS/S DEVELOPING OVER THE OHIO VALLEY AND DROPPING E/SE. IN FACT...THE GFS TRACKS AN MCS ACROSS THE NORTHERN HALF OF OUR CWFA DURING THE WEDNESDAY NIGHT PERIOD. AT THIS POINT...WE DO NOT HAVE A GREAT DEAL OF CONFIDENCE THAT THE FRONT WILL SAG AS FAR SOUTH AS THE MODELS ARE DEPICTING...BUT WILL INCREASE POPS WED NIGHT INTO THE 40-50 PERCENT RANGE ACROSS THE NORTH. THE FRIDAY THRU SUNDAY PERIOD MARKED BY THE POTENTIAL OF ANOTHER SFC FNT DROPPING INTO THE AREA FROM THE NORTH SATURDAY AND ONLY SLOWLY RETURNING NWD SUNDAY. RIGHT NOW...FRIDAY APPEARS TO BE THE DAY WITH THE LEAST CHC OF PRECIP. HAVE LOWERED POP TO 20 CWFA WIDE FOR AFT/EVE CONVECTION. FNT NOT A SURE THING. IN FACT...ENSEMBLE MEAN POP SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER XCPT FOR AVL. THEREFORE HAVE GONE WITH A 30 POP MTNS...20 POP ELSEWHERE FOR AFT/EVE CONVECTION SAT AND AGAIN SUN. TRENDED TEMPS UP FROM PREV FCST THESE DAYS...BUT NOT AS HIGH AS THE OPERATIONAL MOS SINCE THIS IS A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE FROM THE PREV FCST. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... GSP 68 90 67 89 / 40 20 10 20 AND 67 91 67 90 / 30 20 10 20 CLT 67 91 66 90 / 40 20 20 20 HKY 67 89 64 89 / 40 30 20 30 AVL 59 85 60 85 / 40 30 20 30 && .GSP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... GA...NONE. NC...NONE. SC...NONE. && LANE/RWH
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 535 AM EDT SUN MAY 23 2004 GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-240934- 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- 535 AM EDT SUN MAY 23 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA... UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA. .DAY ONE... SCATTERED TO ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON OVER THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA. A FEW OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE LARGE HAIL...STRONG WINDS...AND LOCALIZED HEAVY RAINFALL. PLEASE SEE THE LATEST SPSGSP FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... SCATTERED TO ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP NEARLY EVERY AFTERNOON THIS WEEK. THE BEST COVERAGE WILL LIKELY TAKE PLACE OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF THE WESTERN CAROLINAS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS AFTERNOON.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
555 PM EDT SUN MAY 23 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0532 PM TSTM WND DMG 1 E STATESVILLE 35.79N 80.87W
05/23/2004 IREDELL NC TRAINED SPOTTER
TREE DOWN ON A HOUSE ON WELLHOUSE ROAD.
&&
DEOPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
602 PM EDT SUN MAY 23 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0536 PM HAIL 5 SE GASTON 33.76N 81.04W
05/23/2004 0.25 INCH CALHOUN SC AMATEUR RADIO
QUARTER-SIZED HAIL REPORTED IN THE STAGECOACH AREA OF
SOUTHERN GASTON COUNTY. ALSO HAD 3 TO 4 INCH DIAMTER TREE
LIMBS DOWN IN THE SAME AREA.
0536 PM HAIL 5 SE GASTON 33.76N 81.04W
05/23/2004 1.00 INCH CALHOUN SC AMATEUR RADIO
QUARTER-SIZED HAIL WAS REPORTED IN THE STAGECOACH AREA OF
SOUTHERN GASTON COUNTY. ALSO HAD 3 TO 4 INCH DIAMTER
LIMBS DOWN IN THE SAME AREA.
&&
DEOPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED TO REMOVE FIRST PART
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
602 PM EDT SUN MAY 23 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0536 PM HAIL 5 SE GASTON 33.76N 81.04W
05/23/2004 1.00 INCH GASTON NC AMATEUR RADIO
QUARTER-SIZED HAIL WAS REPORTED IN THE STAGECOACH AREA OF
SOUTHERN GASTON COUNTY. ALSO HAD 3 TO 4 INCH DIAMTER
LIMBS DOWN IN THE SAME AREA.
&&
DEOPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
629 PM EDT SUN MAY 23 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0600 PM TSTM WND DMG 10 E GASTONIA 35.25N 80.99W
05/23/2004 MECKLENBURG NC COUNTY OFFICIAL
TREES ON POWER LINES IN MOUNT HOLLY.
&&
DEOPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED FOR COUNTY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
629 PM EDT SUN MAY 23 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0600 PM TSTM WND DMG 10 E GASTONIA 35.25N 80.99W
05/23/2004 GASTON NC COUNTY OFFICIAL
TREES ON POWER LINES IN MOUNT HOLLY.
&&
DEOSPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 630 PM EDT SUN MAY 23 2004 NCZ057-072-232330- CABARRUS-ROWAN- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...CONCORD...SALISBURY 630 PM EDT SUN MAY 23 2004 ...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS TO AFFECT CABARRUS AND ROWAN COUNTIES THROUGH 730 PM... STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE NORTHEAST FROM CROFT TO CONCORD THROUGH 7 PM...AND THEN AFFECT THE SOUTHEASTERN PART OF ROWAN COUNTY...NEAR ROCKWELL BY 730 PM. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE TORRENTIAL RAINFALL AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND MAY BE ACCOMPANIED BY SMALL HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS TO 40 MPH. HG
The Greer radar (KGSP), 157 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:38 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Strong winds caused a small aircraft to flip over at the Concord Airport. Two other aircraft were shifted. In the city, a couple of trees were blown down and there were sporadic power outages.
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, May 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: 5401245.