Isolated severe thunderstorms moved through the CSRA and produced some wind damage.
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 episode as NWS CAE wrote it up.
Isolated severe thunderstorms moved through the CSRA and produced some wind damage.
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 Jul 31, 2:08 PM EST, 4 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 308 PM EDT THU JUL 31 2008 .SYNOPSIS... A WEAK SURFACE TROUGH WILL APPROACH FROM THE NORTHWEST AND CROSS THE AREA LATER TONIGHT INTO FRIDAY. A WEAK COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA SATURDAY INTO SUNDAY. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD IN FROM THE NORTH EARLY NEXT WEEK. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... SCATTERED CONVECTION HAS DEVELOPED ALONG AND SOUTH OF A GRD-CAE LINE...WHILE A LINE OF STRONGER CONVECTION WAS MOVING ACROSS NORTH CAROLINA. THIS LINE OF CONVECTION IS DRIVEN BY A SHORTWAVE MOVING THROUGH SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA AT THIS TIME. SPC MESO-ANALYSIS PAGE SHOWING CAPE VALUES EXCEEDING 3000 J/KG ACROSS THE ENTIRE FORECAST AREA...WHICH SHOULD PROVIDE AN ENVIRONMENT FOR SUSTAINING THUNDERSTORMS. WILL CARRY LIKELY POPS LATE THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THE FAR NORTHERN FORECAST AREA AHEAD OF THE CONVECTIVE LINE. WILL ALSO CARRY HIGH CHANCE POPS SOUTH OF COLUMBIA THROUGH EARLY EVENING...WITH LOWER CHANCE AROUND THE CENTRAL MIDLANDS. CONVECTION WILL LINGER INTO THE EVENING HOURS BUT THEN DIMINISH AFTER MIDNIGHT WITH THE ATMOSPHERE STABILIZES. OVERNIGHT LOWS WILL BE WARM IN THE MID TO UPPER 70S WITH DEBRIS CLOUDS OVERNIGHT. && .SHORT TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT/... WEAK BOUNDARY WILL MOVE SLOWLY ACROSS THE SOUTHERN FORECAST AREA FRIDAY. POTENTIAL FOR CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY DIMINISHES ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA...BUT WILL KEEP SMALL CHANCE POP FOR THE EASTERN MIDLANDS. TEMPS WILL AGAIN BE QUITE WARM WITH HIGHS IN THE MID 90S. ANOTHER WEAK FRONT WILL APPROACH FROM THE NW ON SATURDAY SO WILL GO WITH CHANCE POPS AS THE TIMING OF THE FRONT MATCHES WELL WITH PEAK HEATING AND SOME SHORTWAVE ENERGY APPROACHING. TEMPS AHEAD OF THIS FRONT WILL CONTINUE TO BE WARM AND MID-UPPER 90S LOOK GOOD AND CLOSE TO MODEL GUIDANCE. TEMPERATURES WILL COOL SLIGHTLY BEHIND THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY ON SUNDAY...BUT REMAIN IN THE 90S. WILL HOLD ON TO A SLIGHT CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION ALONG THE EASTERN MIDLANDS WHERE MOISTURE WILL BE BEST. && .LONG TERM /MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... THE EXTENDED FORECAST FEATURES A BUILDING UPPER RIDGE OVER THE TENNESSEE VALLEY INTO THE SOUTHEASTERN PART OF THE COUNTRY. A PRECIPITATION FREE FORECAST IS EXPECTED MON/TUE UNDER THE SUBSIDENCE OF THE UPPER RIDGE AND WARMING ALOFT. MAX TEMPERATURES SHOULD BE IN THE MID TO UPPER 90S EARLY NEXT WEEK. PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES WILL INCREASE DURING THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK AS A SHORTWAVE AND WEAK FRONTAL BOUNDARY APPROACHES THE REGION ON THURSDAY...RESULTING IN BETTER PRECIPITATION CHANCES ON WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY. && .AVIATION /19Z THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... WEAK SHORT WAVE AND WEAK FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO APPROACH THE AREA FROM THE NORTHWEST. THESE FEATURES WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA FRIDAY MORNING. AFTERNOON HEATING THIS AFTERNOON ARE GIVING LIS ON THE ORDER OF -4/-5 AND CAPES 2000-3000 J/KG. THIS IS ALLOWING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP. JUST PULSE TYPE EXPECTED OF MAINLY NON SEVERE VARIETY BUT THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP IN AREAS WITH CAPES OVER 3000 J/KG WILL BE STRONG AND COULD APPROACH SEVERE LIMITS. SPC HAS THE AREA OUTLOOKED IN A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE STORMS. EXPECT MAINLY VFR CONDITIONS THE NEXT 24 HOURS BUT IFR-MVFR CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE IN ANY SHOWER OR THUNDERSTORM THAT DOES DEVELOP. EXPECT DIURNAL CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY WHICH SHOULD DIE OUT BY 02Z THIS EVENING. EXTENDED AVIATION OUTLOOK...ISOLATED TO SCATTERED AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. && .CAE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SC...NONE. GA...NONE. && SYNOPSIS...HC NEAR TERM...HC SHORT TERM...HC LONG TERM...HC AVIATION...TTH
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 403 AM EDT THU JUL 31 2008 GAZ040-063>065-077-SCZ015-016-018-020>022-025>031-035>038-041-010900- LINCOLN-MCDUFFIE-COLUMBIA-RICHMOND-BURKE-LANCASTER-CHESTERFIELD- MCCORMICK-NEWBERRY-FAIRFIELD-KERSHAW-EDGEFIELD-SALUDA-LEXINGTON- RICHLAND-LEE-AIKEN-SUMTER-BARNWELL-ORANGEBURG-CALHOUN-CLARENDON- BAMBERG- 403 AM EDT THU JUL 31 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL GEORGIA AND CENTRAL SOUTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY. SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP IN THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE APPROACHES THE AREA. A FEW OF THE STORMS COULD REACH SEVERE LIMITS PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. HIGH TEMPERATURES IN THE MIDDLE 90S COMBINED WITH HIGH HUMIDITY VALUES WILL RESULT IN AFTERNOON HEAT INDICES OF 100 TO 104 DEGREES ACROSS THE MIDLANDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE CENTRAL SAVANNAH RIVER AREA OF GEORGIA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED.
The Columbia radar (KCAE), 114 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:12 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Public reported power outage with large limbs and powerlines down in the area around the Gate 1 Shoppette.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Georgia in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Georgia, July 2008
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: 109516.