F2 Tornado — Horry, South Carolina

2001-07-06 · near Myrtle Beach, Horry, South Carolina

Event narrative

As a weak cold front moved south into an afternoon sea breeze boundary, slow-moving thunderstorms developed along the Horry county coast. An F0 tornado briefly touched down at 9th Ave N near the Myrtle Beach Pavilion, and soon after a waterspout formed just off the beach near 3rd Ave N. It slightly damaged the 2nd Ave N pier and then moved over the beach as it developed more strongly, causing F2 damage - overturned buses and extensive damage to vehicles and hotels along the beach to about 4nd Ave S. Moving off the beach again, the waterspout continued south about 100 yards from the shore until it came ashore between 28th Ave S and Springmaid Pier...causing a 66 knot gust over water at the Springmaid Pier anemometer. As it moved through the Seagate RV park, it did F1 damage - destroyed 10 RVs and damaged 40 more. Weakening further, the tornado crossed US Hwy Business 17 onto Myrtle Beach International Airport, doing F0 damage to trees and structures.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.7000, -78.8833)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5259234. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.