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F3 tornado in Lexington County, South Carolina

Tornado August 16, 1994 · Lexington County, South Carolina

F3
Rating
8.0 mi
Path length
440 yd
Path width
40
Injuries
$50.0M
Damage as recorded
What F3 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F3 meant severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned; the scale paired it with winds of 158–206 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

Lake Murray ,Tornado touched down near intersection of SC311 and SC244 3 miles south-southeast of Lexington. Major damage occurred to the Glassmaster factory at the intersection of SC6 and Interstate 20. The tornado from that point was mostly on the ground as it moved through east and north central Lexington. Outside of Lexington, the tornado passed near the Rikard Nursing home. The storm became more intense with another area of severe damage in the Secret Cove area along the south Lake Murray shore. The tornado apparently dissipated over Lake Murray although strong winds were noted in the Old Forbes Road area on the northern shore of Lake Murray. Approximately 200 homes were damaged, many businesses, several churches and public buildings were also damaged. Five electric substations were damaged in Lexington County with 15,000 customers without electrical power. Forty people were injured. The tornado was observed by many people from the time it first struck near SC602 until it dissipated over Lake Murray.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 10346746. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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