EF0 tornado in Saluda County, South Carolina

Tornado May 24, 2017 · Saluda County, South Carolina

EF0

Rating

12.1 mi

Whole path

250 yd

Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Saluda County → Newberry County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

An NWS Storm Survey Team found that a tornado touched down near Denny Highway in Northern Saluda County, about 2 miles southwest of the Saluda River. The tornado

then continued northeast across the Saluda River and into Newberry County. The tornado had a path length of 1.92 miles in Saluda County and a maximum width of 250 yards, producing EF-0 and EF-1 damage along its path. Numerous trees were either snapped or uprooted along the damage path.

The wider storm

An upper disturbance ahead of an upper trough, combined with considerable atmospheric instability, moisture, and shear ahead of an approaching surface cold front, to produce shower and thunderstorm activity. Some severe thunderstorms produced tornadoes, strong damaging wind gusts, locally heavy rain, and some hail.

Began near Perrys Xrds (34.1058, -81.6403).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Saluda County EF1 Lancaster County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 696750. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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