Scattered thunderstorms produced wind damage that took down trees and powerlines causing some power outages.
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.
Scattered thunderstorms produced wind damage that took down trees and powerlines causing some power outages.
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 Aug 6, 1:26 PM EST, 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 226 PM EDT THU AUG 6 2015 .SYNOPSIS... AN UPPER TROUGH AND INCREASING MOISTURE WILL LEAD TO GREATER PRECIPITATION CHANCES TODAY INTO FRIDAY...FOLLOWED BY DRIER AIR RETURNING FOR THE WEEKEND. A FRONT MAY AFFECT THE REGION EARLY NEXT WEEK. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... WV LOOP SHOWS ONE S/W MOVING TOWARD THE SC COAST EARL THIS AFTERNOON AND A MORE VIGOROUS S/W TO MOVE ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT. 88D REGIONAL COMPOSITE SHOWS ONE BAND OF SHRA/TSRA ASSOCIATED WITH THE FIRST S/W APPROACHING THE COAST AND ADDITIONAL SHRA/TSRA ACTIVITY AHEAD OF THE MAIN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH. CURRENT MESO ANALYSIS SHOWS AT LEAST MODERATE INSTABILITY DEVELOPING ACROSS THE MIDLANDS THIS AFTERNOON WITH CAPES APPROACHING 3000 J/KG...PW VALUES AROUND 2 INCHES AND AREA IN MID/UPPER DIFFLUENT FLOW. EXPECT TO SEE ADDITIONAL SHRA/TSRA TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO TONIGHT AHEAD OF THE MAIN S/W. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND EVEN THE POSSIBILITY OF SOME HAIL WITH COLD POOL/STEEPING LAPSE RATES APPROACHING WITH TROUGH. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD ALSO PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. FLASH FLOOD THREAT WOULD BE A CONCERN IF STORMS TRAINED OVER THE SAME AREA...OTHERWISE STORM MOTION OF 20 TO 25 MPH WILL KEEP STORMS MOVING LIMITING THREAT FROM FLOODING FROM A SINGLE STORM. UPPER TROUGH...CURRENTLY WORKING EAST THROUGH THE OH/TN VALLEY REGION THIS AFTERNOON...WILL CONTINUE TO TRACK EAST TO THE APPALACHIANS BY LATE TONIGHT...WITH INCREASING ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE STREAMING INTO OUR REGION AHEAD OF IT...WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES PROGGED TO INCREASE TO NEAR OR JUST ABOVE 2 INCHES. SOME HIGH RESOLUTION MODEL OUTPUT INDICATING CONVECTION COULD PERSIST THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. HAVE INCREASED POPS SLIGHTLY INTO THE LOW LIKELY RANGE FOR THIS AFTERNOON/TONIGHT. THOUGH SOME STABILIZATION EXPECTED TONIGHT DUE TO RAIN COOLING COULD REDUCE AREAL COVERAGE OF CONVECTION...THINK UPPER LIFT AHEAD OF THE APPROACHING UPPER TROUGH AND LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE SURFACE BOUNDARY COMBINED WITH HIGH MOISTURE IN PLACE WILL PROVIDE A CONTINUED THREAT OF PRECIPITATION TONIGHT...ESPECIALLY NORTH. && .SHORT TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT/... STRONG SHORT WAVE TROUGH MOVING THROUGH THE REGION DURING THE MORNING. SURFACE FRONTAL BOUNDARY MOVING SOUTH ACROSS THE AREA DURING THE AFTERNOON. POPS HIGH IN THE MORNING THEN DECREASING IN THE AFTERNOON AS STRONGEST LIFT MOVES EAST OF THE AREA. DRIER ATMOSPHERE FOR SATURDAY. WEAK COOL ADVECTION BEHIND THE FRONT AND DEPARTING LOW EXPECTED TO KEEP TEMPS DOWN TO NEAR CLIMATOLOGY SATURDAY. && .LONG TERM /SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... MODELS INDICATE UPPER RIDGE WILL SHIFT BACK TO THE WEST SOME...WITH UPPER TROUGH DEEPENING OVER THE E CONUS...EARLY TO MID NEXT WEEK. THIS ALONG WITH SOME EXPECTED INCREASE IN MOISTURE AND INDICATIONS OF A POSSIBLE FRONT SUGGESTS TREND TOWARDS INCREASING POPS. GENERALLY ACCEPTED BLEND OF GUIDANCE. && .AVIATION /18Z THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... GENERALLY EXPECTING VFR CONDITIONS TO PREVAIL THROUGH THE PERIOD EXCEPT NEAR OR IN THUNDERSTORMS. CURRENT ANALYSIS SHOWS THE CENTRAL MIDLANDS BECOMING MODERATELY UNSTABLE WITH MOISTURE CONVERGENCE AND PW VALUES AROUND 2 INCHES OR HIGHER. WV LOOP SHOWS ONE S/W MOVING CROSS THE EASTERN PORTION OF THE STATE EARLY THIS AFTERNOON WITH A MORE SIGNIFICANT S/W TO APPROACH LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. STRONG DIURNAL HEATING THIS AFTERNOON WITH TEMPERATURES PUSHING INTO THE LOWER/MIDDLE 90S SHOULD SUPPORT THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT. 88D REGIONAL COMPOSITE SHOWS CONVECT AHEAD OF FIRST S/WW ACROSS THE COASTAL PLAIN AND ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT WEST OF THE CWA ACROSS GA. HAVE INCLUDED TSRA IN THE FORECAST IN A COUPLE OF TEMPO GROUPS FOR THIS AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING. WILL CONTINUE TO ADJUST AS CONDITIONS DEVELOP THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. EXPECT CHANCES FOR SHRA/TSRA WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS AND GRADUALLY DIMINISH ON FRIDAY FROM WEST TO EAST AS S/W MOVES TOWARD THE COAST. EXTENDED AVIATION OUTLOOK...A SURFACE TROUGH AND UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH WILL HELP SUPPORT SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS AND ASSOCIATED RESTRICTIONS THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY. OTHERWISE... MVFR OR IFR CONDITIONS POSSIBLE IN LATE NIGHT AND EARLY MORNING FOG. && .CAE WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SC...NONE. GA...NONE. && 99
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 407 AM EDT THU AUG 6 2015 GAZ040-063>065-077-SCZ015-016-018-020>022-025>031-035>038-041-070815- LINCOLN-MCDUFFIE-COLUMBIA-RICHMOND-BURKE-LANCASTER-CHESTERFIELD- MCCORMICK-NEWBERRY-FAIRFIELD-KERSHAW-EDGEFIELD-SALUDA-LEXINGTON- RICHLAND-LEE-AIKEN-SUMTER-BARNWELL-ORANGEBURG-CALHOUN-CLARENDON- BAMBERG- 407 AM EDT THU AUG 6 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE MIDLANDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE CENTRAL SAVANNAH RIVER AREA OF GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...MAINLY THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SOME OF THE STROMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG DAMAGING WIND GUSTS...AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TODAY.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
131 PM EDT THU AUG 6 2015
SCZ015-020-021-061830-
NEWBERRY-FAIRFIELD-LANCASTER-
131 PM EDT THU AUG 6 2015
...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT NORTHWESTERN FAIRFIELD...
LANCASTER AND NORTHERN NEWBERRY COUNTIES...
AT 128 PM EDT...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTHWEST NEWBERRY CHESTER
AND NORTHERN FAIRFIELD COUNTIES WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.
WIND GUSTS OF 35 TO 45 MPH ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
NEWBERRY...LANCASTER...WAXHAW...WHITMIRE...ELGIN...HEATH SPRINGS...
IRWIN...BLACKSTOCK...FISHING CREEK RESERVOIR AND LANCASTER MILL.
LAT...LON 3507 8090 3493 8078 3482 8080 3482 8061
3464 8045 3422 8178 3443 8174 3453 8164
3449 8149 3450 8142 3457 8142 3455 8087
3465 8089 3470 8086 3483 8090 3484 8087
3493 8086 3501 8091
TIME...MOT...LOC 1728Z 240DEG 49KT 3449 8157The Columbia radar (KCAE), 48 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:55 UTC.
27 thunderstorm wind, 4 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
DOT reported several trees down in Winnsboro.
Newberry Electric COOP reported powerlines down with outages in the Kinards area.
Highway Patrol reported trees down at Winnsboro Road and Lorick Road.
Highway Patrol reported trees down at Pine Plain Road and Gus Sturkie Road.
Dispatch reported trees down on Hwy 378 about 4 miles east of McCormick.
Highway Patrol reported trees down on Oneil Court at Trenholm Road.
Highway Patrol reported a tree across the intersection of Faraway and Height roads.
Social media reported power outages northeast of the Dentsville area.
Dispatch reported a tree down 2 miles west of Batesburg-Leesville.
Highway Patrol reported trees down on Daniel Ave. about 1 mile outside of Ward.
Dispatch reported multiple trees down on Chatsworth Road, Castleton Lane, and Exeter Lane.
SCE&G reported over 600 power outages due to thunderstorms winds taking down power lines.
Highway Patrol reported trees down on Mt. Calvary Road at Market Road.
Public reported the intersection of Forest Drive and Harrison flooded.
Sheriff reported trees and powerlines down with outages north and northeast of Saluda to the Newberry county line.
Sheriff reported trees and powerlines down on Highway 76 between Little Mountain and Prosperity.
Sheriff reported trees down east of Jackson.
Sheriff reported trees down on I-20 east bound between U.S. 378 and U.S. 1.
SCE&G reported powerlines down between Dixiana and Gaston with outages on Busbee Road.
Sheriff reported trees down along the northern end of the county.
SKYWARN spotter reported two trees on U.S. 178 south of Pelion.
Dispatch reported powerlines down in Snelling.
Dispatch reported powerlines down in Springfield.
Broadcast media reported one to two feet of water closing the intersection of Harden and Devine streets from flash flooding.
Dispatch reported a couple of trees down between North and Neeses.
Dispatch reported multiple trees down around Ft. Motte.
Dispatch reported trees down on Cameron Road at U.S. 176.
Water rescue by Columbia Fire Dept. for two motorists trapped in flood waters. Water levels were 4 feet deep. Vehicle stalled as they tried to drive through the flooded area.
Dispatch reported trees and powerlines down with outages.
Dispatch reported trees and powerlines down.
Highway Patrol reported Key Road closed due to high water from flash flooding.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Carolina in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in South Carolina, August 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: 585716, 585715, 585714, 585687, 585713, 585712, 585708, 585710, 585703, 585706, 585701, 585661, 585699, 585692, 585698, 585667, 585696, 585693, 585694, 585697, 585695, 585690, 585689, 585682, 585688, 585685, 585686, 585681, 585684, 585683, 585680.