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 May 19, 8:11 PM EST, 4 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 911 PM EDT THU MAY 19 2005 .SHORT TERM (REST OF TONIGHT)... CWFA CURRENTLY IN A CONVECTIVE LULL...ONLY SCT CONVECTION OVER NC MTNS WITH ISOLATED ELSEWHERE. HAVE BACKED OFF ON EVENING POP TO COVER CURRENT TREND. EXPECT CONVECTION TO PICK UP LATER AS SHORT WAVE MOVES INTO THE AREA. 00Z RAOBS SHOW ATMOS BECOMING CONDITIONALLY UNSTABLE WITH THE LOSS OF HEATING. THE SHORT WAVE SHOULD PROVIDE ENOUGH LIFT FOR PARCELS TO REACH LFC. POP BECOMING CATEGORICAL BY MORNING AS MCS...OR ITS REMNANTS MOVE INTO THE AREA. RAOBS SHOW GOOD DIRECTIONAL SHEAR...BUT LOW SPEED SHEAR. AS THE WAVE MOVES CLOSER...WINDS BECOME MORE UNIDIRECTIONAL BUT SPEEDS INCREASE SIGNIFICANTLY. ISOLATED SVR TSRA STILL POSSIBLE THIS EVENING...BUT CHANCES DIMINISHING WITH HEATING. MCS...OR REMNANTS...COULD PRODUCE ISOLATED SVR TSRA OVER NC MTNS LATE TONIGHT...BUT CHANCE WILL BE BETTER TO OUR WEST. MADE SOME MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO TEMP...DEW POINTS AND WINDS AS WELL. && .PREVIOUS DISCUSSION... (ISSUED 257 PM EDT THU MAY 19 2005) SHORT TERM (TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY)... SCT STRONG TSTMS HAVE DEVELOPED ALONG THE LEE SLOPES THIS AFTN. THIS WAS EXPECTED...BUT THE STRENGTH OF SOME OF THE STORMS IS A LITTLE SURPRISING. MID 60 DWPTS AND A LIGHT UPSLOPE FLOW HAVE RESULTED IN SB-CAPE VALUES OF BETWEEN 2000-2500 IN MANY AREAS. STORMS WILL LIKELY CONTINUE THROUGH SUNSET AS THEY DRIFT SOUTHEAST INTO THE AXIS OF THE WARM...MOIST AIR IN THE LEE. SHEAR WL REMAIN QUITE WEAK AND DO NOT EXPECT CONVECTION TO ACHIEVE AND DEGREE OF ORGANIZATION. SYNOPTIC SCALE FORCING...IN THE FORM OF PRONOUNCED UPPER DIVERGENCE...WL INCREASE AFTER MIDNIGHT AS UPPER LOW CURRENTLY OVER SRN WI DROPS SE UNDER AN MUCH LARGER UPPER LOW OVER NEW ENGLAND. GFS HAS COME AROUND TO A MORE NAM-LIKE SOLUTION AS BOTH MODELS OPEN THE CLOSED LOW AND BRING IT THROUGH THE WRN CAROLINAS AS AN ADVECTIVE SHORT WAVE FRI. AS DIFFLUENCE INCREASES...EXPECT CONVECTION TO BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD AFTER MIDNIGHT. MOS REFLECTS THIS WITH CAT POPS AND HAVE FOLLOWED SUIT ACROSS THE ENTIRE CWFA. INSTABILITY IS QUITE LIMITED BY LATE TNGT...SO THINK THAT SEVERE THREAT WL BE LIMITED. WIDESPREAD PCPN WL CONTINUE FRI MORNING. BY FAR THE BEST DEEP LAYER SHEAR AND INSTABILITY WL MISS US WELL TO THE WEST AS MID LEVEL WINDS WL BE MUCH STRONGER ON THE WESTERN SIDE OF THE TROF AND LAPSE RATES WL BE STEEPER THERE. HOWEVER...DESPITE THE WEAK SHEAR AND MORE LIMITED INSTABILITY OVER THE WRN CAROLINAS AND NE GA...THE COMBINATION OF GOOD LLVL CONVERGENCE WITH THE SFC TRIPLE POINT WORKING THROUGH THE REGION...AND COOL TEMPERATURES ALOFT UNDER THE TROF...SHOULD BE GOOD FOR A RASH OF CONVECTION IN THE AFTN. SOME OF THESE WL PROBABLY PRODUCE SEVERE CRITERIA HAIL. CONVECTION MAY CONTINUE WELL INTO THE EVENING FRI AS SFC CONVERGENCE WL INCREASE BEHIND THE LOW AS A BACK DOOR FRONT DROPS ACROSS THE CWFA. MODELS PROJECT GOOD MOISTURE POOLING ALONG THE BNDRY. ANY PCPN SHOULD COME TO AN END EARLY SATURDAY WITH RAPID CLEARING AND A BRISK NE WIND. CONTINUED MILD AND DRY ON SUNDAY. LONG TERM (SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY)... MEDIUM RANGE MODELS HAVE TRENDED MORE TOWARD THE LAST FEW UKMET AND/OR ECMWF RUNS WITH DEEPER DEVELOPMENT OF MEAN EASTERN U.S. TROUGHING. OVERALL THIS LEAD TO A LOWERING OF DAILY MAXES FOR DAYS 4-7...AS CWFA SHOULD BE CAUGHT WITHIN CYCLONIC CIRCULATION AT LEAST INTO DAY 6...WITH TIMING OF ANY DEAMPLIFYING FLOW STILL UNCERTAIN TOWARD THE END OF THE PERIOD. WILL PLAN ON ROUGH TIMING OF IMPULSE AND ATTENDANT COLD FRONT SWINGING THRU ON MONDAY...WITH JUST SMALL OR SLIGHT CHANCES OF DEEP CONVECTION AT THAT TIME. AVIATION... AN EARLY START TO DEEP CONVECTIVE INITIATION ALONG THE BLUE RIDGE INDICATIVE OF OVERALL HIGHER RH & K INDEX VALUES ACRS THE CWFA. WEAKLY SHEARED ENVIRONMENT CONTRIBUTES TO DIFFICULTLY IN TIMING TSRA CHANCES INTO ANY ONE TERMINAL...BUT BASED ON EXPECTED EVENTUAL CVRG...FEEL THAT THERE IS 50/50 CHANCE FOR GREATER FOR TSRA TO OCCUR AT ANY ONE SITE AT SOME POINT THROUGH 00Z...SO CONTINUED TEMPOS AT ALL SITES THIS AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING. PROBABLY WILL WIND UP WITH JUST A MIX OF DEBRIS CLDS AS THE EVENING WEARS ON AFTER DEEP CONVECTION DISSIPATES WITH LOSS OF HTG. GENERAL AGREEMENT AMONG MODELS/NUMERICAL GUIDANCE IN REDEVELOPING AT LEAST MVFR LVL STRATCU AFTER MIDNIGHT WITHIN LLVL WAA IN ADVANCE OF NEXT SLUG OF DEEP FORCING AND RH...GENERALLY CENTERED AROUND DAYBREAK FRIDAY. && .GSP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... GA...NONE. NC...NONE. SC...NONE. && SHORT TERM...RWH
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 352 AM EDT THU MAY 19 2005 GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082- SCZ001>014-019-200800- RABUN-HABERSHAM-STEPHENS-FRANKLIN-HART-ELBERT-AVERY-CALDWELL- ALEXANDER-IREDELL-DAVIE-MADISON-YANCEY-MITCHELL-SWAIN-HAYWOOD- BUNCOMBE-MCDOWELL-BURKE-CATAWBA-ROWAN-GRAHAM-NORTHERN JACKSON- MACON-SOUTHERN JACKSON-TRANSYLVANIA-HENDERSON-POLK-RUTHERFORD- CLEVELAND-LINCOLN-GASTON-MECKLENBURG-CABARRUS-UNION- OCONEE MOUNTAINS-PICKENS MOUNTAINS-GREENVILLE MOUNTAINS- GREATER OCONEE-GREATER PICKENS-GREATER GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG- CHEROKEE-YORK-ANDERSON-ABBEVILLE-LAURENS-CHESTER-GREENWOOD- 352 AM EDT THU MAY 19 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA... MUCH OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA... AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS AN INCREASING CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS TODAY...BECOMING LIKELY TO CATEGORICAL OVERNIGHT. SOME STORMS ARE LIKELY TO CONTAIN AT LEAST SMALL HAIL AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED FRIDAY...WITH A DECREASING CHANCE FRIDAY NIGHT. THERE IS ANOTHER CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. RB
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
331 PM EDT THU MAY 19 2005
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0230 PM TSTM WND DMG 3 N SALEM 34.93N 82.98W
05/19/2005 OCONEE SC DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
ONE TREE BLOWN ACROSS POWER LINE ALONG HIGHWAY 130 NEAR
BAD CREEK. SD REPORTED A FIRE ASSOCIATED. SALEM POST
OFFICE REPORTED WIND STRONG ENOUGH TO CAUSE DAMAGE THERE.
&&
JONESSPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 346 PM EDT THU MAY 19 2005 NCZ034-035-054>056-066>069-192031- ALEXANDER-BURKE NC-CALDWELL-CATAWBA-CLEVELAND-LINCOLN NC-MCDOWELL- POLK NC-RUTHERFORD- 346 PM EDT THU MAY 19 2005 .NOW... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP OVER THE NORTH CAROLINA FOOTHILLS AND DRIFT SLOWLY TO THE SOUTHEAST LATE THIS AFTERNOON. A STRONG STORM WILL MOVE SLOWLY THROUGH THE HICKORY METRO AREA THROUGH 430 PM. THIS STORM WILL PRODUCE 40 TO 50 MPH WINDS... TORRENTIAL RAIN...PEA SIZED HAIL AND NEARLY CONTINUOUS LIGHTNING. MCAVOY
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
549 PM EDT THU MAY 19 2005
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0450 PM FLASH FLOOD LONGVIEW 35.73N 81.38W
05/19/2005 CATAWBA NC TRAINED SPOTTER
SCHOOL BUS DRIVER REPORTED A CAR STALLED WITH WATER UP TO
THE WINDOWS.
0518 PM FLASH FLOOD ICARD 35.73N 81.46W
05/19/2005 BURKE NC COUNTY OFFICIAL
WATER REMOVAL PROCESSES HAVE BEGUN ON MAIN STREET.
&&
NEDThe Knoxville radar (KMRX), 78 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:15 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a building, resulting in some windows being blown out.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Carolina in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, May 2005
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: 5453626.