EF1 tornado in Spartanburg County, South Carolina

Tornado March 3, 2023 · Spartanburg County, South Carolina

EF1

Rating

21.3 mi

Whole path

50 yd

Path width

$50K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Laurens County → Spartanburg County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

NWS storm survey found that the path of a weak tornado that began in the Gray Court area of Laurens County crossed the Enoree River into Spartanburg County about 1.5 miles southeast of the Enoree community. Damage was entirely limited to uprooted trees and snapped limbs, with some large uprooted trees observed as the tornado crossed I-26 between mile markers 41 and 42. The path crossed Highway 92 and Cross Anchor Rd before lifting near the intersection of Starnes Rd and Adrienne Rd.

The wider storm

Multiple lines and clusters of thunderstorms moved into upstate South Carolina during the late afternoon and evening ahead of a cold front. Multiple reports of wind damage were received across the Piedmont and foothills. Meanwhile, a weak tornado tracked across northern Laurens County into far southern Spartanburg County.

Began near Enoree (34.6440, -81.9450).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1090602. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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