F1 tornado in Kershaw County, South Carolina

Tornado July 24, 1997 · Kershaw County, South Carolina

Rating

3.0 mi

Whole path

85 yd

Path width

$25K

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 85 yards (0.05 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 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 F1 tornado produced winds to 90 mph and damaged a home north of Bethune before crossing the county and and diminishing to an F0 which took down many trees in the Carolina Sand Hills National Wildlife Refuge just north of Mc Bee.

Began near Bethune (34.4700, -80.3500).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F2 Lexington County 1 dead F2 Kershaw County F1 Richland County F0 Richland County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5602092. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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