EF2 Tornado — Charleston, South Carolina

2015-09-24 · near Morris Acres, Charleston, South Carolina

Event narrative

A National Weather Service storm survey team confirmed a tornado on Johns Island. The tornado touched down near Cane Slash Road where one home had a portion of its roof ripped off. The tornado then tracked to the north-northwest and crossed Maybank Highway and Brownswood Road, causing minor damage to a few homes and extensive damage to trees. The tornado then tracked further north-northwest and caused the most significant damage along its path on Sonny Boy Lane, where damage to two homes was consistent with a high end EF-2 tornado. At one home, only a small portion of the roof was left intact as the rest of the roof and most of the exterior walls of the well built brick home were knocked down. A large portion of this roof and a ground level air condition unit were hurled about 150 yards. At another well built home across the street, the entire back portion of the two story house was ripped off. From there, the tornado continued its north-northwest track crossing River Road, the Stono River, Main Road, and eventually Highway 17 where it dissipated. Along this portion of the path the tornado produced widespread destruction to numerous acres of trees and damage to the roofs of two businesses near Highway 17. According to a damage assessment performed by the Charleston County Building Services Department, 51 total structures were damaged including 33 with moderate or worse damage and 18 with only minor damage. The total damage estimate resulting solely from structures was $1,539,000. Thousands and thousands of trees were uprooted or snapped off with many falling onto structures, vehicles, and roadways. The tree damage was so extensive and widespread that several roads along the path were impassable for a few days following the event.

Wider weather episode

A large mid and upper level low helped to draw deep moisture into southeast South Carolina while a low pressure system at the surface became centered off the southeast coast. The low tracked slowly west-northwest and aided in backing the low level wind field along the South Carolina coast. Overnight, coastal front lifted northward and allowed for surface based instability to spread inland from the adjacent coastal waters. Scattered to numerous thunderstorms developed over the coastal waters late in the evening and a few of these exhibited supercell characteristics including strong low level rotation. One thunderstorm in particular quickly strengthened as it moved onshore at Kiawah Island near the coastal front. The storm deepened and rapidly developed strengthening low and mid-level rotation. The thunderstorm soon showed numerous radar characteristics suggestive of a ongoing tornado. Ultimately the thunderstorm spawned a tornado that created a 7 mile path of damage.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.7192, -80.0552)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 602300. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.