EF0 tornado in Fairfield County, South Carolina

Tornado December 29, 2024 · Fairfield County, South Carolina

EF0

Rating

11.2 mi

Whole path

150 yd

Path width

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

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 EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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

An EF-0 tornado with peak winds of 75 mph that began near Old Hilton Rd east of Chapin in Richland County continued into Fairfield County after crossing the Broad River near Wateree Creek. The tornado moved generally northeast likely causing damage in an inaccessible area north of the river. Additional tree damage began again along Highway 215. The tornado began turning more easterly, causing additional tree damage near Landis Rd and Highway 269 before dissipating.

The wider storm

A deep upper trough and an associated surface prefrontal trough translated from the Deep South into the Southeast during the morning hours. A long-lived QLCS containing strong to severe storms propagated along with the prefrontal trough, likely cold-pool dominated. This QLCS produced multiple reports of wind damage as well as multiple confirmed tornadoes.

Began near Wallaceville (34.2034, -81.2521).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Fairfield County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1221823. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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