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EF1 tornado in Aiken County, South Carolina

Tornado March 3, 2019 · Aiken County, South Carolina

EF1
Rating
0.4 mi
Path length
150 yd
Path width
$2K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 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

Further examination of the March 3, 2019 severe weather event revealed an additional tornado in northwestern Aiken County. The combination of a TDS present on radar, and convergence noted in the original damage survey, led to this conclusion. The tornado began just east of US1, snapping hardwoods and uprooting pine trees as it quickly moved northeastward. It did minor roof damage to a home before quickly dissipating east of Centipede Road.

The wider storm

An upper trough and strong surface cold front moved through the Central Savannah River Area of GA and Midlands of SC in the late afternoon and evening. Strong thunderstorms developed along and ahead of the front. Sufficient atmospheric instability and shear contributed to the development of seven tornadoes across the region, one EF-0, four EF-1's and two EF-2's.

Began near Monetta (33.8275, -81.6208).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

6 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF2 Edgefield CountyEF1 Lexington CountyEF1 Lexington CountyEF1 Richland CountyEF1 Richland CountyEF0 Orangeburg County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1123741. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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