A cold front approached from the west producing a few strong thunderstorms.
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 front approached from the west producing a few strong thunderstorms.
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 May 28, 2:12 PM EST, 2 hours 56 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 312 PM EDT THU MAY 28 2009 .SYNOPSIS... AN COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA LATE FRIDAY. WARM AND MOIST AIR AHEAD OF THE FRONT WILL KEEP THE THREAT OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH FRIDAY. DRY HIGH PRESSURE WILL DOMINATE FOR THE WEEKEND AND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS EXPECTED TO DIMINISH OVERNIGHT TONIGHT. SOUTHWEST UPPER FLOW CONTINUES WITH A FEW WEAK SHORTWAVES MOVING THROUGH. PWAT REMAINS HIGH WITH VALUES 1.5 TO 1.9 INCHES. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE INTO THE EVENING. OVERNIGHT LOWS SHOULD BE NEAR THOSE OF THE PAST FEW NIGHTS...LOWS IN THE MID 60S TO AROUND 70. && .SHORT TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT/... THE MAIN UPPER TROUGH TO MOVE THROUGH THE REGION FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY MORNING. COLD FRONT NOT MOVING THROUGH UNTIL FRIDAY EVENING. SURFACE TROUGH EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER THE CENTRAL CAROLINAS FRIDAY. AIR MASS BECOMING MODERATELY UNSTABLE WITH LI VALUES -4 TO -7 AND CAPES 1400 TO 2200 J/KG. WIND SHEAR MAY BE STRONG ENOUGH TO BRING A CHANCE OF SEVERE STORMS TO THE AREA ALONG AND EAST OF THE SURFACE TROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON. HAIL AND STRONG WIND AND HEAVY RAIN WILL BE THE MAIN HAZARDS OVER EASTERN SC. ONCE THE FRONT MOVES THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT...CONDITIONS DRY OUT. && .LONG TERM /SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... MEDIUM RANGE MODELS CONTINUE TO BE IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE LARGE SCALE PATTERN ALOFT. UPPER TROUGH OVER THE EASTERN U.S. MOVING OUT SATURDAY WITH THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE BUILDING OVER WITH WESTERN ATLANTIC THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. SURFACE FRONT LOOKS TO REMAIN NORTH OF THE FORECAST AREA. RETURN FLOW WILL BRING INCREASING MOISTURE BY MID-WEEK. INCLUDED LOW CHANCE POPS FOR DIURNAL CONVECTION WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. TEMPS AT OR A LITTLE ABOVE NORMAL. && .AVIATION /18Z THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... VFR CONDITIONS GIVING WAY TO MVFR/IFR OVERNIGHT. MOIST AND UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE HAS BEGUN TO SPAWN SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS AROUND THE TAF SITES AND EXPECT THE COVERAGE TO INCREASE OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS. WILL MAINTAIN TSRA IN A TEMPO GROUP THROUGH 22Z WHEN MUCH OF THE ACTIVITY SHOULD DISSIPATE. NEXT CONCERN WILL BE STRATUS AND FOG POTENTIAL AFTER 29/06Z...AS SOME MIXING EXPECTED TO PERSIST THROUGH THE NIGHT BELIEVE THERE WILL AGAIN BE IFR CIGS WITH VSBYS ULTIMATELY BEING DEPENDENT ON WHERE THE RAIN FALLS THIS EVENING. FOG AND STRATUS WILL LIFT/BURN OFF BY 29/14Z WITH A COLD FRONT APPROACHING AT THE END OF THE PERIOD BRINGING ANOTHER CHANCE OF SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS FROM 29/14Z THROUGH THE END OF THE PERIOD. EXTENDED AVIATION OUTLOOK... A WEAK COLD FRONT WILL CROSS THE AREA FRIDAY RESULTING IN WHICH WILL HELP TO TRIGGER SCATTERED SHOWERS/POSSIBLE STORMS. DRIER CONDITIONS EXPECTED SATURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. && .CAE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SC...NONE. GA...NONE. && SYNOPSIS...10 NEAR TERM...10 SHORT TERM...10 LONG TERM...10 AVIATION...
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 420 AM EDT THU MAY 28 2009 GAZ040-063>065-077-SCZ015-016-018-020>022-025>031-035>038-041-290830- LINCOLN-MCDUFFIE-COLUMBIA-RICHMOND-BURKE-LANCASTER-CHESTERFIELD- MCCORMICK-NEWBERRY-FAIRFIELD-KERSHAW-EDGEFIELD-SALUDA-LEXINGTON- RICHLAND-LEE-AIKEN-SUMTER-BARNWELL-ORANGEBURG-CALHOUN-CLARENDON- BAMBERG- 420 AM EDT THU MAY 28 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL GEORGIA AND CENTRAL SOUTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ONCE AGAIN TODAY DURING THE LATE MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON HOURS ACROSS THE AREA. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES AN HOURS WILL BE POSSIBLE IN SLOW MOVING STORMS. FLOODING OF LOW LYING AREAS WILL BE POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 147 PM EDT THU MAY 28 2009 SCZ029-031-281845- LEE-SUMTER- 147 PM EDT THU MAY 28 2009 ...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS SUMTER COUNTY... AT 144 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR MULBERRY...OR 5 MILES EAST OF SUMTER... MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH. SMALL HAIL IS EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE AS THE STORM MOVES TO THE NORTHEAST OF DOWNTOWN SUMTER TOWARD LEE COUNTY. REPORT LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS OR FLOODING TO YOUR COUNTY SHERIFF...OR CALL THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA TOLL FREE AT 1 800 7 7 5 7 1 9 9. AWP
The Columbia radar (KCAE), 113 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:08 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Tree down on car on Jim Wilson Rd. Trees down along Jim Wilson Rd.
Reported half dollar size hail near Porter Road.
Reported a few trees down in the vicinty of Cassatt Tower Rd. and Providence Rd.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Carolina in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in South Carolina, May 2009
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: 162696, 163613, 163614.