F3 tornado in Edgefield County, South Carolina

Tornado May 7, 1998 · Edgefield County, South Carolina

Rating

12.0 mi

Path length

880 yd

Path width

Death

Injuries

$1.0M

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 either destroyed or severely damaged around 60 homes and mobile homes and a church. One person was killed when her mobile home took a direct hit and was completely destroyed. Widespread trees were taken down.

Began near Edgefield (33.6700, -82.0700).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5639368. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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