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EF2 tornado in York County, South Carolina

Tornado November 16, 2011 · York County, South Carolina

EF2
Rating
7.2 mi
Whole path
200 yd
Path width
3
Deaths
5
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 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

The tornado that touched down near Lowrys in extreme northern Chester County moved into York County southeast of McConnells, just east of Darby Rd. The damage path was non-continuous for the first three miles of its track across York County, although open farmland made it difficult to determine if the tornado was in constant contact with the ground in this area. Damage was generally confined to scattered downed trees. Damage intensified as the tornado approached the Williamson Rd area, near its intersection with Erby Rd, where tree damage became more concentrated. The tornado became very strong and increased in size as it approached and crossed highway 324 in the Ogden Community, near its intersection with Skyline Rd and Williamson Rd. Around a dozen homes were damaged in this area, with one double-wide mobile home being rolled about 75 yards. Two occupants of this home were killed. Another man was killed when the roof of his home was blown off, causing a chimney to collapse on him. Five other people were injured in the Ogden area. A number of sheds and outbuildings were damaged or destroyed and several automobiles were also flipped. The tornado lifted east of Skyline Rd, just short of Vernsdale Rd. The tornado was the strongest to hit York County in almost 40 years, and was the county's first known killer tornado since 1926. The thunderstorm that spawned the tornado was a mini-supercell that traveled over 110 miles before dissipating shortly after the second tornado lifted.

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 Mc Connells (34.8200, -81.1800).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 354821. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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