Numerous showers and thunderstorms developed over the western Carolinas ahead of a cold front. Most of the severe weather affected South Carolina and Georgia, but a fair number of pulse severe storms also affected the mountains and foothills of North Carolina.
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 GSP wrote it up.
Numerous showers and thunderstorms developed over the western Carolinas ahead of a cold front. Most of the severe weather affected South Carolina and Georgia, but a fair number of pulse severe storms also affected the mountains and foothills of North Carolina.
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 Jul 26, 1:52 PM EST, 21 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 252 PM EDT MON JUL 26 2010 .SYNOPSIS... A WEAK STATIONARY FRONT WILL LINGER OVER THE CAROLINAS THROUGH TUESDAY...BEFORE LIFTING NORTH AS A WARM FRONT EARLY WEDNESDAY. A COLD FRONT WILL APPROACH THE REGION FROM THE NORTHWEST BY THE END OF THE WEEK. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TUESDAY/... AS EXPECTED...THUNDERSTORMS ARE INITIATING OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND WRN FOOTHILLS WHERE THERE IS GOOD MOISTURE CONVERGENCE. THIS IS THE RESULT OF NELY UPSLOPE FLOW CAUSED BY A BACK DOOR COLD FRONT. CAPE VALUES IN THIS AREA HAVE INCREASED TO A VERY IMPRESSIVE 3000 TO 4000 J/KG. STORMS ARE ALSO FIRING JUST SOUTH OF THE FA ALONG THE SFC PRESSURE MINIMUM ASSOCIATED WITH THE LLVL THERMAL RIDGE. THE STORMS OVER THE MTNS AND FOOTHILLS SHOULD PUSH TO THE SE THIS EVENING AS OUTFLOW BNDYS MOVE INTO HOT AIRMASS OVER THE FOOTHILLS AND WESTERN PIEDMONT. FREEZING LEVELS ARE VERY HIGH THIS AFTERNOON...BUT DAPE VALUES ARE RUNNING BETWEEN 800-1000 J/KG. SO A FAIRLY HIGH CORE COULD STILL PRODUCE SEVERE WINDS. WHILE STORMS WILL TEND TO MOVE AS GOOD COLD POOLS PROPAGATE TOWARD THE THERMAL RIDGE...THERE IS STILL A CHANCE FOR SOME TRAINING AND LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING...PARTICULARLY ALONG AND A LITTLE WAYS EAST OF THE BLUE RIDGE. BLENDED TOTAL PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES ARE WELL OVER 2 INCHES IN A SE TO NW ORIENTED BAND ACROSS THE HEART OF THE FA. IF WE HAD MORE GROUND MOISTURE I/D ENTERTAIN A FLASH FLOOD WATCH...BUT WITH THE DRY CONDITIONS...I DON/T THINK FLOODING WILL BE WIDESPREAD ENOUGH TO WARRANT A WATCH. AS FOR COVERAGE...LIKELY POPS SHOULD COVER IT FOR NOW OWING TO THE WEAK SHEAR WHICH WILL HINDER STORM ORGANIZATION. POPS WILL BE A LITTLE OVER THE NRN NC PIEDMONT...FURTHER FROM THE LLVL CONVERGENCE AND THE HIGHEST CAPE VALUES. STORMS MAY STILL COMBINE INTO A LARGE COMPLEX OVER THE SRN HALF OF THE FA IN A FEW HOURS TIME...WHICH WOULD REQUIRE A BUMP INTO THE CATEGORICAL RANGE. THE LIGHT NE FLOW MAY ALSO KEEP STORMS GOING WELL AFTER SUNSET...EVEN THOUGH MOST OF THE FA WILL INITIALLY BE WORKED OVER BY CONVECTION THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. A MCV OVER MIDDLE TN WILL SLOWLY DRIFT TO THE EAST TONIGHT AND TUE. THIS FEATURE IS CURRENTLY IS TRIGGERING INTENSE STORMS OVER MIDDLE AND SRN TN...ONE OF THE BETTER EXAMPLES OF AN MCV INITIATING NEW STORMS THAT I/VE SEEN IN A WHILE. THIS SHORT WAVE WILL SLOWLY CROSS THE FA ON TUE. THIS SHOULD RESULT IN MORE SHOWERS AND TSTMS FROM THE LATE MORNING HOURS INTO THE LATE AFTN AS THE WAVE CROSSES THE REGION...WITH STORMS PUSHING EAST OF THE FA BY EARLY EVENING. && .SHORT TERM /TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY/... AS OF 215 PM MONDAY...THE DOMINATING UPPER RIDGE WILL GRADUALLY RELEASE ITS GRIP ON THE FORECAST AREA DURING THE SHORT TERM. ALL OPERATIONAL MODELS AND THE SREF AGREE THE RIDGE WILL SLOWLY RETROGRADE TO THE W. THIS WILL OPEN THE DOOR FOR A WEAK COLD FRONT TO MOVE ACROSS THE AREA ON THU. DURING THE PERIOD...STILL EXPECT CONVECTION TO BE STRONGLY DIURNAL IN NATURE DUE WEAK UPPER SUPPORT AND STRONG LOW LEVEL WARMING BOTH WED AND THU...AND CORRESPONDING DAYTIME SPIKE IN CAPES. EXPECT SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS STORMS TO BE ONGOING ACROSS THE PIEDMONT TUE EVENING...WITH PROBABLY ONLY WIDELY SCATTERED COVERAGE LEFT OVER IN THE MOUNTAINS. EXPECT CONVECTION TO WANE OVERNIGHT. ON WED...MODELS AGREE THAT SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS STORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE MOUNTAINS BY EARLY AFTERNOON...ADVECTING/REDEVELOPING ALONG COLD POOLS INTO THE PIEDMONT BY LATE AFTERNOON. CONVECTION IS AGAIN EXPECTED TO WANE OVERNIGHT...BUT DID INTRODUCE POPS LATE WED NIGHT IN THE TN BORDER COUNTIES AS THE COLD FRONT APPROACHES. ON THU...BOTH GFS AND NAM BRING THE WEAK COLD FRONT ACROSS THE AREA. HOWEVER...DESPITE BETTER DIVERGENCE ALOFT...EXPECT THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE TO PROBABLY BE SCATTERED AT BEST AS NW FLOW/DOWNSLOPE DEVELOPS LOWERING RH'S. IN FACT THE NORTHERN UPSTATE MAY SEE A "GSP SPLIT" WITH ONLY WIDELY SCATTERED COVERAGE. THE SOUTHERN PIEDMONT AREAS SHOULD SEE THE BEST COVERAGE DURING THE MID TO LATE AFTERNOON. TEMPS SHOULD REMAIN WELL ABOVE AVERAGE BOTH WED AND THU. MET GUIDANCE LOOKS SIGNIFICANTLY TOO LOW FOR WED AS LOW LEVEL THICKESNESSES STILL HIGH AND TEMPS SHOULD WARM QUICKLY PRIOR TO CONVECTION. UPSHOT IS TRENDED MAX TEMPS CLOSER TO HOT MAV TEMPS. HOT TEMPS TO CONTINUE ON THU DESPITE FRONT THANKS TO DOWNSLOPE. && .LONG TERM /THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY/... AS OF 230 PM MONDAY...MEDIUM RANGE WILL FEATURE NW UPPER FLOW ACROSS THE REGION WITH A STRONG UPPER HIGH TO THE WEST OVER THE SOUTH CENTRAL U.S. THE PERIOD BEGINS WITH THE FRONT TO THE SOUTH OF THE FORECAST AREA WITH HIGH PRESSURE RIDGING OVER THE REGION FROM THE NE. THEREFORE...EXPECT FRI TO BE A DRY DAY. THE SURFACE HIGH MOVES EASTWARD ENOUGH ON SAT TO ALLOW WINDS TO COME AROUND TO THE SE WHICH MAY GENERATE SOME SCATTERED MOUNTAIN CONVECTION SAT AFTERNOON ESPECIALLY IN FAVORED UPSLOEP AREAS. THIS PATTERN EXPECTED TO HOLD SUN AND MON WITH THE SE FLOW ADVECTING ATLANTIC MOISTURE OVER THE AREA. THIS SHOULD FUEL WIDELY SCATTERED TO SCATTERED CONVECTION EACH DAY FOCUSED DURING THE AFTERNOONS AND EVENINGS. STAYED CLOSE TO HPC GUIDANCE FIELDS THROUGH THE PERIOD. TEMPS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR OR SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVERAGE EACH DAY. && .AVIATION /19Z MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY/... AT KCLT...MOST OF OUR LOCAL MESOSCALE MODELS BRING WIDESPREAD CONVECTION ACROSS THE AIRFIELD DURING THE COURSE OF THE AFTN AND EVENING. THERE ARE STILL TIMING ISSUES...BUT BASED UPON WHERE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE CURRENTLY DEVELOPED...WE HAVE ABOUT 3 HOURS UNTIL OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES TRIGGER STORMS CLOSE ENOUGH TO CARRY IN AN OBSERVATION. THEREFORE...THE CURRENT 21 TO 01 UTC TEMPO GROUP FOR THUNDER STILL LOOKS GOOD. LATE TONIGHT THERE IS A PRETTY GOOD CHANCE FOR IFR...OR LOWER...STRATUS TO DEVELOP. CHANCES LOOK EVEN BETTER TO THE EAST. I/VE ADDED SCT008 TO THE TAF. IF THERE IS WIDESPREAD RAIN...THE CHANCES WILL BE EVEN BETTER. TSTMS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION AGAIN IN THE AFTN...BUT THE BEST COVERAGE WILL BE JUST OUTSIDE THE VALID PERIOD OF THE TAF. ELSEWHERE...TSTMS ARE DEVELOPING OVER THE MTNS...AND THE OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES WILL GRADUALLY START TO TRIGGER STORMS OUT INTO THE FOOTHILLS AND PIEDMONT. CONVECTION SHOULD BE FAIRLY WIDESPREAD ACROSS THERE REGION ACCORDING TO OUR MESOSCALE MODELS AND I HAVE TEMPO THUNDER IN AT MOST SITES. AT KAVL AND KHKY STORMS WERE ALREADY IN THE VICINITY. IT/LL TAKE ANOTHER 2 TO 3 HOURS BEFORE THEY AFFECT THE UPSTATE SITES. LOW CLOUDS LOOK POSSIBLE OVER TOWARD KCLT...BUT THEY LOOK LESS LIKELY AT SITES FARTHER TO THE WEST. THE EXCEPTION IS KAVL. IF THEY SEE HEAVY RAIN...OR IS SKIES CLEAR FOR A WHILE OVERNIGHT...THEY SHOULD REACH THEIR CROSSOVER TEMPS AND LOW CIGS WOULD THEN BE A GOOD BET...AND PERHAPS DENSE FOG. TSTMS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION AGAIN TMRW AFTN. OUTLOOK...EXPECT AT LEAST SCT SHWRS/TSTMS EACH AFTN AND EVE THRU THE WEEK. CHANCE OF MRNG FOG WILL BE HIGHER WHERE RAIN FALLS...ESP IN MTN VALLEYS. && .GSP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... GA...NONE. NC...NONE. SC...NONE. && SYNOPSIS...SBK NEAR TERM...MCAVOY SHORT TERM...LG LONG TERM...LG AVIATION...MCAVOY
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</html>The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 111 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:10 UTC.
10 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 2 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Several trees were blown down along Little Snowbird Rd.
A tree and several large limbs were blown down about 3 miles north northwest of Lattimore.
Several large tree limbs were blown down on the east side of Bryson City. One branch went through a carport roof.
Trees were blown down in the Freedman Community on the north side of Lenoir.
Trees were blown down in the Tremont Park community.
Several trees were blown down in extreme southwest Caldwell County, near highway 64.
Several trees were blown down on the northwest side of Morganton.
Numerous large tree limbs were blown down in the Ashford and Linville Taverns area.
Several trees were blown down in and around Troutman.
Lightning ignited a fire that destroyed a home on Sunny Brae Dr.
Lightning struck a home on Player Circle, igniting a fire that resulted in some minor roof damage.
Trees were blown down onto a mobile home in the Fork Church area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Carolina in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, July 2010
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: 252508, 252509, 252510, 252511, 252518, 252628, 252632, 252636, 252638, 252639, 252641, 252709, 252710, 252646.