A cold frontal boundary spawned a few severe thunderstorms across the area.
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.
A cold frontal boundary spawned a few severe thunderstorms across the area.
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 23, 6:05 AM EST, 5 hours 37 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 705 AM EDT WED JUL 23 2008 .SYNOPSIS... A COLD FRONT WILL APPROACH THE REGION LATE TODAY...BRINGING WITH IT ANOTHER CHANCE FOR PRECIPITATION WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON INTO WEDNESDAY NIGHT. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD INTO THE AREA THURSDAY. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM THIS MORNING/... MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES EXPECTED. && .SHORT TERM /6 AM THIS MORNING THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT/... WATER VAPOR AND MODELS SHOW VIGOROUS SHORT WAVE MOVING SOUTHEAST INTO THE TN VALLEY. A SECOND REINFORCING SHORTWAVE IS DRIVING SOUTH INTOT HE OHIO VALLEY AND WILL CONBINE WITH THE OTHER OVER THE CAROLINAS AND VIRGINIA. FAIR TO GOOD UPPER LEVEL DYNAMICS AND DEEP MOISTURE WILL LIKELY TRIGGER THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LINE OF CONVECTION JUST AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT BY LATE AFTERNOON. SPC HAS SC IN A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE STORMS. THE NAM AND LOCAL WRF MODELS HAVE THE FRONT REACHING THE COAST BY THURSDAY MORNING WITH HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING INTO THE AREA ON THURSDAY. && .LONG TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... HIGH PRESSURE WILL BE OVER THE AREA FRIDAY BUT MOISTURE WILL RETURN OVER THE WEEKEND AND INTO NEXT WEEK. MODELS KEEP A WEAK TROF OVER THE AREA THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD WITH A DECENT CHANGE OF PRECIP MONDAY AND TUESDAY AS ANOTHER FRONT APPROACHES. TEMPS WILL BE CLOSE TO NORMAL. && .AVIATION /06Z WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES THIS MORNING. FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL BE MOVING INTO THE AREA DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EXPECT SHRA/TSRA TO DEVELOP IN THE EARLY AFETRNOON AND CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING HOURS. WILL HANDLE WITH CB CLOUD GROUP IN THE TAFS. EXTENDED OUTLOOK...NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS TO AVIATION EXPECTED. && .CAE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SC...NONE. GA...NONE. && SYNOPSIS...02 NEAR TERM...02 SHORT TERM...02 LONG TERM...02 AVIATION...31
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 418 AM EDT WED JUL 23 2008 GAZ040-063>065-077-SCZ015-016-018-020>022-025>031-035>038-041-240830- LINCOLN-MCDUFFIE-COLUMBIA-RICHMOND-BURKE-LANCASTER-CHESTERFIELD- MCCORMICK-NEWBERRY-FAIRFIELD-KERSHAW-EDGEFIELD-SALUDA-LEXINGTON- RICHLAND-LEE-AIKEN-SUMTER-BARNWELL-ORANGEBURG-CALHOUN-CLARENDON- BAMBERG- 418 AM EDT WED JUL 23 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 THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TODAY.
The Columbia radar (KCAE), 122 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:41 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Reported several large limbs down at Elizabeth Academy Road.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Carolina in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in South Carolina, 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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 106857.