F3 tornado in Orangeburg County, South Carolina

Tornado December 10, 2004 · Orangeburg County, South Carolina

Rating

1.5 mi

Path length

80 yd

Path width

Injury

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 80 yards (0.05 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F3 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F3 meant severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned; the scale paired it with winds of 158–206 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

Damage survey found an F3 tornado demolished a brick church, completely destroyed 2 mobile homes and several outbuildings. The main damage occurred on Coulter road.

Began near Orangeburg (33.5700, -80.8333).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

F2 Calhoun County F0 Sumter County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5426875. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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