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F1 tornado in Union, Spartanburg and Cherokee County, South Carolina

Tornado August 16, 1994 · Union, Spartanburg and Cherokee County, South Carolina

F1
Rating
30.0 mi
Path length
150 yd
Path width
$500K
Damage as recorded
What F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This tornado was nearly parallel to the Santuc tornado described above. It moved along a track 2 to 3 miles east of the first storm and just a few minutes later. This tornado was not as large nor intense as the first tornado and was on the ground about 20 to 30 percent of the time. The most damage occurred around Carlisle where the roof of a restaurant was removed and homes and mobile homes were damaged - and at the end of its track at Cowpens where nearly $80,000 damage was done to homes and mobile homes. At Cowpens, one resident watched the tornado become stationary for a minute or so in an open field just before it dissipated. The tornado crossed into Cherokee County at 1600EST and into Spartanburg County at 1620EST. Spotters were able to follow both the above tornadoes for most of their paths through Union County.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 10346401. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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