F3 tornado in Edgefield County, South Carolina

Tornado May 7, 1998 · Edgefield County, South Carolina

Rating

5.0 mi

Path length

880 yd

Path width

$300K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 880 yards (0.50 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

An F3 tornado touched down near SC highway 61 and moved east to SC highway 36 taking down numerous trees and causing major and minor damage to several homes.

Began near Edgefield (33.8800, -82.0300).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F3 Edgefield County 1 dead F2 Edgefield County F1 Saluda County F0 McCormick County F0 Aiken County F0 McCormick County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5639362. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.