Damaging Wind and Lightning Strike in North Carolina, May 23, 2004

Name: Damaging Wind and Lightning Strike in North Carolina, May 23, 2004
Start: 2004-05-23T17:55
End: 2004-05-23T18:15
Location: North Carolina

May 23, 2004 · NWS GSP · 2 events in 1 county or zone

1 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

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.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $10,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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.

What forecasters said that day

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 47 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 23, 2:08 PM EST, 3 hours 47 minutes before

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, May 23, 4:35 AM EST, 13 hours 20 minutes before

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.

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 23, 4:55 PM EST, 1 hour before

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.

&&

DEO

Local storm report, May 23, 5:02 PM EST, 53 minutes before

PRELIMINARY 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.

&&

DEO

Local storm report, May 23, 5:02 PM EST, 53 minutes before

PRELIMINARY 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.

&&

DEO

Local storm report, May 23, 5:29 PM EST, 26 minutes before

PRELIMINARY 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.

&&

DEO

Local storm report, May 23, 5:29 PM EST, 26 minutes before

PRELIMINARY 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.

&&

DEO

Special weather statement, May 23, 5:30 PM EST, 25 minutes before

SPECIAL 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 radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 133 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:54 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Union

When: May 23, 5:55 PM EST to 6:15 PM EST
Where: Union County, 5 mi N of Monroe
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph) estimated gust
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 35.050, -80.567

Several trees were blown down.

Lightning, Union

When: May 23, 5:55 PM EST to 6:15 PM EST
Where: Union County, 5 mi N of Monroe
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 34.988, -80.531 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Lightning ignited some structural fires.

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
Lightning: A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in North Carolina in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in North Carolina, May 2004

Sources

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: 5401246, 5401247.