Isolated thunderstorms developed across the mountains during the late afternoon. One storm became briefly severe near Marshall, producing 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 GSP wrote it up.
Isolated thunderstorms developed across the mountains during the late afternoon. One storm became briefly severe near Marshall, producing 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 Greenville-Spartanburg, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 27, 3:26 PM EST, 14 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
426 PM EDT WED MAY 27 2015
.SYNOPSIS...
A BERMUDA HIGH PATTERN WILL REMAIN ACROSS THE REGION INTO THE
WEEKEND BEFORE A COLD FRONT PUSHES IN FROM THE NORTH LATE SUNDAY.
THIS FRONT WILL THEN WEAKEN AND BECOME STATIONARY OVER THE AREA
THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK.
&&
.NEAR TERM /THROUGH THURSDAY/...
415 PM UPDATE...CONVECTION OVER THE MTNS REMAINS ISOLATED...WITH
MOST CU IN THAT AREA LOOKING UNLIKELY TO PRECIPITATE ON VISIBLE SAT.
FOR THE PIEDMONT THE MAIN FOCUS CONTINUES TO BE AN EXPANDING OUTFLOW
BDY S AND E OF CHARLOTTE...KICKING OFF SOME SMALL CELLS. WHILE THE
AREA APPEARS UNSTABLE ENOUGH THAT A FEW MORE ISOLATED CELLS COULD
DEVELOP AWAY FROM THE EXISTING ACTIVITY...LOW CHC POPS AT BEST SEEM
FINE INTO THE EVENING. TOUCHED UP TEMPS/DEWPTS THOUGH THEY WERE MORE
OR LESS ON TRACK.
STUBBORN STRATOCU PERSISTS IN MOST AREAS EAST OF THE MTNS...WHICH
HAS LIMITED CAPE TO LESS THAN 1000 J/KG THUS FAR. MEANWHILE...
DESPITE PERSISTENCE OF GOOD INSOLATION OVER THE MTNS... THE CU FIELD
APPEARS RATHER PALTRY ATTM. NEVERTHELESS...BASED UPON THE LATEST
MESOSCALE/CONVECTION-ALLOWING MODELS...OPTED TO STAY THE COURSE WITH
PRIMARILY 30 POPS ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA INTO THE EVENING HOURS...
WITH SLIGHTLY HIGHER PROBABILITIES ALONG/NEAR THE EASTERN
ESCARPMENT. ALTHOUGH THE LIMITED INSTABILITY SHOULD GENERALLY LIMIT
COVERAGE OF ROBUST UPDRAFTS...STRONG THETA-E LAPSES/DECENT DCAPE
AND WEAK SHEAR COULD SUPPORT A COUPLE OF MICROBURSTS.
A SHORT WAVE TROUGH WILL APPROACH THE AREA FROM THE TENN VALLEY THIS
EVENING. THERE IS A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF CONVECTION AHEAD OF THIS
FEATURE ACROSS THE MISS VALLEY THIS AFTERNOON. MUCH OF THIS ACTIVITY
WILL PUSH ACROSS THE TENN VALLEY INTO THE EVENING HOURS...BUT
MESOSCALE AND SHORT TERM GUIDANCE ARE IN GENERAL AGREEMENT THAT THIS
ACTIVITY WILL TEND TO LOSE STEAM AS IT APPROACHES OUR AREA TONIGHT
IN THE WEAKLY SHEARED/STABILIZING ENVIRONMENT. THUS...ONLY TOKEN
SLIGHT/LOW CHANCE POPS WILL BE RETAINED THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT.
BY THURSDAY AFTERNOON...PWATS WILL RETURN TO ABOVE CLIMO LEVELS...AS
DEEPER MOISTURE PUSHES INTO THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS AND
SURROUNDING AREAS IN ASSOCIATION WITH DAMPENING SHORT WAVE TROUGH.
ON THE OTHER HAND...INSTABILITY MAY END UP BEING LIMITED BY
CONSIDERABLE MID-LEVEL CLOUD COVER TOMORROW AFTERNOON.
ADDITIONALLY...THE DEEP LAYER FLOW WILL BE EXTREMELY WEAK. IN
FACT...2-8KM MEAN WINDS ARE LESS THAN 5 KTS IN THE LATEST NAM
FORECAST SOUNDINGS. THEREFORE...ANY CELLS THAT DO DEVELOP TOMORROW
AFTERNOON WILL NOT COVER MUCH AREA. WE WILL CONTINUE TO ADVERTISE
HIGHER-THAN-CLIMO POPS IN LIGHT OF THE HIGH PWATS...BUT CONVECTION
IS NOT EXPECTED TO BE ESPECIALLY ROBUST IN THE WEAK LAPSE RATE/
MODESTLY UNSTABLE REGIME. LOCALIZED HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE OF SOME
CONCERN IN LIGHT OF THE HIGH MOISTURE CONTENT AND WEAK STEERING
FLOW.
&&
.SHORT TERM /THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY/...
AT 200 PM EDT WEDNESDAY...ON FRIDAY MORNING AN UPPER RIDGE WILL BE
ALONG THE EASTERN SEABOARD...WHILE A TROUGH WILL BE OVER THE
ROCKIES. THE EASTERN RIDGE BEGINS TO BREAK DOWN ON SATURDAY.
MEANWHILE...THE DEAMPLIFYING UPPER TROUGH PROGRESSES TO THE SOUTHERN
PLAINS...REACHING THE LOWER MS RIVER VALLEY ON SATURDAY NIGHT.
AT THE SURFACE...ATLANTIC RIDGING WILL OVER THE CAROLINAS AND GA
WILL BE REINFORCED BY HIGH PRESSURE CENTERED OVER EASTERN CANADA.
LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL REMAIN BANKED UP AGAINST THE SOUTHERN
APPALACHIANS...WITH ONLY WEAK ISENTROPIC UPGLIDE AND UPSLOPE FLOW
INTO THE BLUE RIDGE. THE SURFACE HIGH MOVES OFFSHORE ON SATURDAY...
BUT THE RIDGE MAINTAINS A FOOTHOLD ON GA AND THE CAROLINAS. LIMITED
INSTABILITY WILL BE PRESENT BOTH DAYS...CHIEFLY OVER THE MOUNTAINS
ON THE WESTERN PERIPHERY OF THE UPPER RIDGE...BUT SHEAR IS EXPECTED
TO BE RELATIVELY TAME. TEMPERATURES WILL EXHIBIT A REDUCED DIURNAL
RANGE DUE TO CLOUDS AND MOISTURE.
&&
.LONG TERM /SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY/...
AS OF 230 PM WEDNESDAY...MODELS REMAIN IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH A
BROAD UPPER TROF CROSSING THE NORTHEASTERN CONUS AND ERODING THE
UPPER RIDGE OVER THE EASTERN SEABOARD ON SUNDAY. A BROAD SURFACE
HIGH WILL BUILD INTO THE MIDWEST...SLOWLY PUSHING A COLD FRONT
TOWARDS THE SOUTHEAST LATE SUNDAY AND INTO MONDAY. THE BOUNDARY WILL
THEN STALL OUT OVER THE APPALACHIANS AND WEAKEN SLIGHTLY EARLY IN
THE WORK WEEK.
AS THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY APPROACHES SUNDAY AND MONDAY...POPS INCREASE
ONCE AGAIN...WITH THE GFS DRIVING THE BOUNDARY IN SLIGHTLY FASTER
THAN THE ECMWF. WHILE NOT PARTICULARLY IMPRESSIVE AT THIS
TIME...WEAK SHEAR AND INSTABILITY LOOK TO BE PRESENT MONDAY THROUGH
THE END OF THE EXTENDED PERIOD...SUGGESTING STORMS WITH SOME
ORGANIZATION ARE POSSIBLE WITH A DIURNAL PEAK. CONFIDENCE IS LOWER
TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY...BUT MODELS SUGGEST THE BOUNDARY WILL BE SLOW TO
CLEAR THE AREA...SO POPS WILL REMAIN ABOVE CLIMO THROUGH THE END OF
THE PERIOD. MOIST SOUTH/SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW WILL WILL KEEP HIGHS AND
LOWS WELL ABOVE CLIMO ON SUNDAY...WITH CLOUD COVER DROPPING HIGHS TO
NEAR NORMAL AND LOWS REMAINING ABOVE AVERAGE FOR THE WORK WEEK.
&&
.AVIATION /21Z WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY/...
AT KCLT AND ELSEWHERE...SCT/BKN CLOUDS JUST ABV THE MVFR THRESHOLD
ARE EXPECTED INTO THE EVENING HOURS. THE COMBINATION OF WIDESPREAD
LOW CLOUDS AND SOME MID-LEVEL MOISTURE HAS RESULTED IN MINIMAL
INSTABILITY DEVELOPING ACROSS THE REGION SO FAR THIS AFTERNOON...AND
STILL DON/T REALLY SEE ANY SIGNS THAT DEEP CONVECTION IS IMMINENT
NEAR THE TERMINALS. THE BEST CHANCES THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE
AFTERNOON WILL BE JUST S AND E OF KCLT ALONG AN OUTFLOW BOUNDARY.
NEVERTHELESS...EXPECT ISOLATED/WIDELY SCT CONVECTION TO DEVELOP OVER
MUCH OF THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON AS CLOUDS CONTINUE TO THIN AND
INSTABILITY INCREASES. HOWEVER...WITH INSTABILITY EXPECTED TO REMAIN
ON THE WEAK SIDE AND THE EXPECTATION OF LIMITED COVERAGE...OPTED TO
LIMIT THE MENTION TO A VCSH AT ALL TERMINALS EXCEPT KAVL...WHERE A
VCTS WILL E CARRIED. OTHERWISE... CHANCES FOR VISBY/CIG RESTRICTIONS
WILL INCREASE AGAIN TONIGHT... BUT A TRANSITION TO MORE OF A SW FLOW
REGIME IS EXPECTED TO RESULT IN LOWER CHANCES FOR CIG RESTRICTIONS
THAN SEEN IN RECENT DAYS. MVFR VISBY IS FORECAST AT MOST
TERMINALS...WITH IFR CONDITIONS AT KAVL.
OUTLOOK...MOIST SW FLOW WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT THE TERMINAL
FORECAST AREA THROUGH THE UPCOMING WEEKEND...AS A COLD FRONT LAYS
OVER TO THE NORTH OF THE AREA. EXPECT POCKETS OF MORNING FOG AND/OR
STRATUS MOST DAYS...WITH CONTINUED CHANCES OF AFTN/EVENING SHRA/TSRA
EACH DAY.
CONFIDENCE TABLE...
20-02Z 02-08Z 08-14Z 14-18Z
KCLT HIGH 100% HIGH 100% HIGH 95% HIGH 100%
KGSP HIGH 100% HIGH 100% HIGH 85% HIGH 100%
KAVL HIGH 100% HIGH 95% HIGH 91% HIGH 100%
KHKY HIGH 100% HIGH 100% HIGH 95% HIGH 100%
KGMU HIGH 100% HIGH 100% HIGH 91% HIGH 100%
KAND HIGH 100% HIGH 100% HIGH 97% HIGH 100%
THE PERCENTAGE REFLECTS THE NUMBER OF GUIDANCE MEMBERS AGREEING
WITH THE SCHEDULED TAF ISSUANCE FLIGHT RULE CATEGORY. COMPLETE HOURLY
EXPERIMENTAL AVIATION FORECAST CONSISTENCY TABLES AND ENSEMBLE FORECASTS
ARE AVAILABLE AT THE FOLLOWING LINK: (MUST BE LOWER CASE)
WWW.WEATHER.GOV/GSP/AVIATION_TABLES
&&
.GSP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
GA...NONE.
NC...NONE.
SC...NONE.
&&
SYNOPSIS...SBK
NEAR TERM...JDL/WIMBERLEY
SHORT TERM...JAT
LONG TERM...LEV
AVIATION...JDL/WIMBERLEYHAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 505 AM EDT WED MAY 27 2015 GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033-035>037-048>053-056>059-062>065- 068>072-082-501>510-SCZ001>014-019-280915- RABUN-HABERSHAM-STEPHENS-FRANKLIN-HART-ELBERT-AVERY-ALEXANDER- IREDELL-DAVIE-MADISON-YANCEY-MITCHELL-SWAIN-HAYWOOD-BUNCOMBE-CATAWBA- ROWAN-GRAHAM-NORTHERN JACKSON-MACON-SOUTHERN JACKSON-TRANSYLVANIA- HENDERSON-CLEVELAND-LINCOLN-GASTON-MECKLENBURG-CABARRUS-UNION- CALDWELL MOUNTAINS-GREATER CALDWELL-BURKE MOUNTAINS-GREATER BURKE- MCDOWELL MOUNTAINS-EASTERN MCDOWELL-RUTHERFORD MOUNTAINS- GREATER RUTHERFORD-POLK MOUNTAINS-EASTERN POLK-OCONEE MOUNTAINS- PICKENS MOUNTAINS-GREENVILLE MOUNTAINS-GREATER OCONEE- GREATER PICKENS-GREATER GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG-CHEROKEE-YORK- ANDERSON-ABBEVILLE-LAURENS-CHESTER-GREENWOOD- 505 AM EDT WED MAY 27 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST GEORGIA...PIEDMONT NORTH CAROLINA...WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA AND UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THIS EVENING ACROSS THE REGION. IN ADDITION TO CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING AND HEAVY DOWNPOURS...A FEW STORMS MAY PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. ..THURSDAY...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. ..FRIDAY...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. ..SATURDAY...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. ..SUNDAY...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. ..MONDAY...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. ..TUESDAY...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... NONE. ARK
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
423 PM EDT WED MAY 27 2015
NCZ048-053-272115-
BUNCOMBE NC-MADISON NC-
423 PM EDT WED MAY 27 2015
...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL IMPACT PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MADISON AND
NORTHERN BUNCOMBE COUNTIES UNTIL 515 PM EDT...
AT 423 PM EDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 6
MILES SOUTHWEST OF MARSHALL...OR 6 MILES NORTHWEST OF LEICESTER...
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.
PEA SIZE HAIL AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THIS
STORM.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
MARSHALL...WEAVERVILLE...MARS HILL...LEICESTER...WOODFIN...
BARNARDSVILLE...LUCK...WOLF RIDGE...WALNUT AND CANTO.
LAT...LON 3596 8250 3595 8248 3593 8250 3591 8249
3591 8248 3589 8245 3586 8242 3582 8241
3582 8236 3581 8235 3575 8233 3573 8232
3560 8278 3576 8289 3597 8258 3595 8256
3598 8251
TIME...MOT...LOC 2023Z 240DEG 20KT 3572 8276
CDGThe Knoxville radar (KMRX), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:38 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
FD and county comms reported multiple trees blown down just south of Marshall.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Carolina in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, May 2015
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: 575778.