EF0 tornado in Calhoun County, South Carolina

Tornado April 13, 2020 · Calhoun County, South Carolina

EF0

Rating

82.0 mi

Whole path

770 yd

Path width

Deaths

Injuries

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Aiken County → Barnwell County → Barnwell County → Barnwell County → Orangeburg County → Orangeburg County → Calhoun County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 770 yards (0.44 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

A strong, long-track tornado began just south of the town of Elko in Barnwell Co SC where it was rated as EF-1, then moved in a general northeast direction through Orangeburg Co SC, where it reached EF-3 intensity and caused 2 fatalities. The tornado dissipated shortly after crossing into Calhoun Co SC southwest of St. Matthews before reaching I-26.

The wider storm

A squall line rolled through the region during the early morning hours of April 13, 2020. Strong instability and shear led to numerous severe thunderstorm wind gusts along with several tornadoes. In total, across central SC, there were 5 EF-3 tornadoes, 1 EF-2 tornadoes, and 1 EF-1 tornado. Two fatalities, and several injuries, occurred with the tornadoes.

Began near Riley (33.6175, -80.9394).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Barnwell County EF3 Barnwell County EF2 Orangeburg County EF1 Richland County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 884165. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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