EF1 Tornado — Clarendon, South Carolina

2025-05-30 · near St Paul, Clarendon, South Carolina

Event narrative

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.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.6007, -80.4697)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1264103. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.