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 Columbia, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 8, 1:20 PM EST, 1 hour earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 220 PM EDT TUE JUN 8 2004 .SHORT TERM... LITTLE CHANGE IN SYNOPTIC PATTERN NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS...EXPECT MAINLY DIURNAL THUNDERSTORMS EACH AFTERNOON. HIGH MOISTURE CONTENT ACROSS SOUTH CAROLINA TODAY. AIRMASS MODERATELY UNSTABLE. PRECIP WATER ABOVE 1.5 INCHES. SURFACE MOISTURE BOUNDARY EXTENDING FROM SOUTHEAST GEORGIA NEAR SURFACE LOW SOUTHEAST OF MCN...NORTHEAST ACROSS THE SAVANNAH RIVER TO THE EASTERN MIDLANDS. THETA-E RIDGE AND GOOD MOISTURE FLUX CONVERGENCE ACROSS EASTERN MIDLANDS WITH DEEP SOUTHEAST TO SOUTH FLOW. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPED EARLY TODAY ALONG SEA BREEZE FRONT...THESE STORMS ARE NOW IN THE EAST MIDLANDS. OTHER STORMS ARE DEVELOPING IN THE CENTRAL SAVANNAH RIVER AREA AND PIEDMONT. MAIN THREAT FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN DUE TO MOIST SOUNDINGS AND WEAK VERTICAL WIND PROFILES. UPPER LOW CENTERED OVER NORTH GEORGIA WILL MOVE LITTLE OVERNIGHT... WEAK 500 MB VORT ADVECTION POSSIBLE MAINLY IN THE WESTERN ZONES. MOS POPS HIGH THIS EVENING...PLAN ON 60 POP EARLY THEN CHANCE OVERNIGHT...CANT RULE OUT STORMS AFTER MIDNIGHT WITH UPPER LOW IN THE VICINITY. MOIST SOUTH FLOW CONTINUES WEDNESDAY...500MB VORT MAX IN GEORGIA MAY MOVE A LITTLE CLOSER SUGGESTING AN INCREASE IN POPS. LOCAL CONSENSUS GUIDANCE A LITTLE HIGHER THAN THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING AND SEA BREEZE ACTIVE...NUMEROUS BOUNDARIES EXPECTED...LIKELY POPS IN THE AFTERNOON SEEM REASONABLE. ETA SUGGESTING SOME DRYING THURSDAY... MAINLY MID LEVELS AS UPPER LOW MOVES OFF THE SOUTH CAROLINA COAST. GFS INDICATING AIRMASS STILL QUITE MOIST AND HAS MORE AMPLITUDE WITH SHORT WAVE MOVING ACROSS VIRGINIA/CAROLINAS THURSDAY AFTERNOON. WITH MID LEVEL DRYING AIRMASS MAY BECOME MORE UNSTABLE. WILL CONTINUE SCATTERED AFTERNOON CONVECTION FORECAST THURSDAY. .LONG TERM... AIRMASS REMAINS FAIRLY MOIST. BACK DOOR COLD FRONT MOVES INTO REGION SATURDAY THEN LIFTS BACK NORTH AS WARM FRONT. A COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TUESDAY AS LONG WAVE TROUGH AMPLIFIES IN THE EASTERN STATES. WILL CONTINUE CHANCE AFTERNOON EVENING THUNDERSTORMS EACH DAY. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... COLUMBIA 70 86 69 89 / 60 60 60 30 AUGUSTA 67 86 66 89 / 60 60 60 30 SUMTER 69 86 69 89 / 60 60 60 30 ORANGEBURG 70 87 69 89 / 60 60 60 30 && .CAE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SC...NONE. GA...NONE. && AWP
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 432 AM EDT TUE JUN 8 2004 GAZ040-063>065-077-SCZ015-016-018-020>022-025>031-035>038-041-090831- AIKEN SC-BAMBERG SC-BARNWELL SC-BURKE GA-CALHOUN SC-CHESTERFIELD SC- CLARENDON SC-COLUMBIA GA-EDGEFIELD SC-FAIRFIELD SC-KERSHAW SC- LANCASTER SC-LEE SC-LEXINGTON SC-LINCOLN GA-MCCORMICK SC-MCDUFFIE GA- NEWBERRY SC-ORANGEBURG SC-RICHLAND SC-RICHMOND GA-SALUDA SC- SUMTER SC- 432 AM EDT TUE JUN 8 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE MIDLANDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE CENTRAL SAVANNAH RIVER AREA. .DAY ONE... SCATTERED SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING WILL PRODUCE RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF ONE TO TWO INCHES. THIS COULD RESULT IN SOME MINOR FLOODING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. RCC
The Columbia radar (KCAE), 15 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:22 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a tree and branched off to hit a man and a woman. The man was killed and the woman had a slight injury.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Lexington | 2004-06-08 | 33 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Carolina in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in South Carolina, June 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: 5395104.