F2 tornado — Berkeley County, South Carolina

F2 tornado in Berkeley County, South Carolina

Tornado May 10, 1998 · Berkeley County, South Carolina

Rating

10.0 mi

Path length

666 yd

Path width

Death

Injuries

$5.0M

Damage as recorded

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 666 yards (0.38 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

After two brief earler touchdowns in Dorchester County, the supercell crossed Interstate 26 into Berkeley County where the most extensive damage occurred. There were 442 homes damaged (17 destroyed, 113 major damage, and the remainder had minor damage. Areas hardest hit were Frankie Lane and Royale Road, where numerous mobile homes were located. There was a 90 year old female who was injured severely when her mobile home was flipped and throuwn more than 40 feet. She died several hours later. Several eye witnesses reported seeing vortices rotating around the main funnel. This fact was born out by the damage pattern in several areas.

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5636650. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

F2 tornado in Berkeley County, South Carolina

What the National Weather Service wrote

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Tornadoes near your address