EF1 tornado in Clarendon County, South Carolina

Tornado May 30, 2025 · Clarendon County, South Carolina

EF1

Rating

10.0 mi

Path length

200 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 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

A National Weather Service Storm Survey team confirmed an EF1 tornado in Clarendon County that occurred within a wide swath of damaging winds, extending from Swansea to Lake Marion. Based on ground observations and radar, the tornado likely developed over Lake Marion, just east of Lone Star before emerging over land near Hickory Top Road. The tornado snapped numerous limbs and large branches along Old River Road as it moved southeast. The tornado strengthened and caused substantial tree and power line damage near Old River Road and Clifton Road and then further east near Liberty Hill Road and Rapid Edge Trail. Moving southeast, minor tree damage occurred across Highway 15 and I-95. Numerous trees were then uprooted along MG Hemingway Road. The tornado slowly weakened causing minor damage across Washington Davis Road before dissipating near Bill Davis Road.

The wider storm

An upper trough moved into the Southeast region during the afternoon on May 30th with an associated surface cold front. These features moved into an environment with modest instability and strong deep layer shear, yielding a severe line of convection that brought wind damage and a tornado south of Manning, SC.

Began near St Paul (33.6007, -80.4697).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1264103. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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