EF0 tornado in Bamberg County, South Carolina

Tornado September 11, 2017 · Bamberg County, South Carolina

EF0

Rating

2.0 mi

Path length

50 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 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

NWS storm survey team confirmed an EF-0 tornado touched down just NE of Olar, SC, moved to the NNW and dissipated approximately 4 minutes later near Govan, SC. The tornado was associated with the circulation of tropical cyclone Irma.

The tornado touched down just northwest of the town of Olar along Thunder Road. The tornado continued north-northwest for approximately 2 miles. The tornado crossed Thunder Road, Red Fox Road, Memorial Church Road and dissipated before reaching Ehrhardt Road. The tornado downed a few trees and several large limbs along it's path. The tornado was brief, only staying on the ground for approximately

4 minutes.

The wider storm

Irma made landfall in south Florida as a category 4 hurricane on Sunday, September 10th, then moved north up the Florida peninsula during the day and night while gradually weakening. Irma weakened to Tropical Storm status while over north Florida Monday morning September 11th, and shifted NW over SW Georgia and into Alabama through Monday night while weakening to a Depression. Copious rainfall amounts associated with the cyclone occurred across the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) of GA and the Midlands of SC, which generally fell from late Sunday night, through Monday and Monday night the 11th, and into the early morning hours of Tuesday the 12th. In addition, the pressure gradient between the cyclone to our SW, and high pressure to our north, provided strong wind gusts over the region as well which downed numerous trees. The strongest wind gusts occurred Monday afternoon Sept 11th.

Began near Olar (33.1900, -81.1900).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 716101. 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.