EF1 tornado in Chester County, South Carolina

Tornado November 16, 2011 · Chester County, South Carolina

EF1

Rating

7.2 mi

Whole path

100 yd

Path width

Deaths

Injuries

$1.0M

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 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

This tornado initially touched down in a rural area of extreme northern Chester County, near the Lowrys community, just west of Darby Rd. The open farmland in this area made it difficult to follow the track, but several trees were blown down and part of the roof was removed from a home. The tornado traveled northeast, across Darby Rd before crossing into York County.

The wider storm

An environment of strong wind shear and weak to moderate instability supported the development of a mini-supercell thunderstorm over the eastern Upstate of South Carolina. The storm produced an EF2 tornado in Chester County, along with a couple of weaker tornadoes.

Began near Dinber (34.8095, -81.2010).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF0 Union County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 354820. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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