F2 tornado in Lexington County, South Carolina

Tornado July 23, 1997 · Lexington County, South Carolina

Rating

3.5 mi

Path length

200 yd

Path width

Death

Injuries

$917K

Damage as recorded

$25K

Crop damage

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 F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 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

An F2 tornado producing winds to 150 mph killed a 32 year old female and injured 6 others. Two homes were destroyed and 9 others had major damage. Two apartements were destroyed (duplex). Seven mobile homes were destroyed and 94 had minor damage. Numerous trees were down and two crop fields had areas of destroyed crops.

Began near Gaston (33.8500, -81.0500).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F2 Kershaw County F1 Richland County F1 Kershaw County F0 Richland County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5602088. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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