F1 tornado in Darlington County, South Carolina

Tornado September 29, 1999 · Darlington County, South Carolina

Rating

15.0 mi

Path length

20 yd

Path width

Injuries

$240K

Damage as recorded

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 20 yards (0.01 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

A tornado touched down at Clyde, just west of the HB Robinson nuclear power plant, and tracked across the Pine Ridge area. The storm continued east-northeast, north of Hartsville across mostly rural areas, to near the Darlington County Jetport. There was spotty damage along a 15 mile path - 11 mobile homes were destroyed and 15 more were damaged. One house had major damage. Six businesses were listed as destroyed. Six injured people were treated and released.

Began near Clyde (34.3800, -80.1800).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5718389. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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