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EF1 tornado in Chester County, South Carolina
Tornado May 5, 2020 · Chester County, South Carolina
NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Chester County → Lancaster County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.
The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.
What the National Weather Service wrote
NWS storm survey found a second tornado developed across southeast Chester County, beginning along Old Catholic Church Rd, a little over a mile south of Highway 97, or just west of I-77. The tornado initially moved east, crossing Interstate 77, and downing trees and snapping large limbs across Mountain Gap Road, Ross Dye Road and Georgetown Road, before turning southeast. The tornado crossed Highway 21 into the town of Great Falls and produced additional tree damage along Walnut Street, Hampton Street, Duke Street, and Republic Street. A house on Republic St received significant damage from a fallen tree. The tornado moved over the Catawba River southeast of Great Falls, crossing Big Island and Pickett Island before moving into southwest Lancaster County, where the tornado strengthened.
The wider storm
For the second day in a row, thunderstorms, including severe severe storms developed across the mountains and in the vicinity of a stationary front and moved southeast across portions of upstate South Carolina from late afternoon into the evening. In addition to large hail and locally damaging winds, a couple of tornadoes developed across Chester County.
Began near Beckhamville (34.5920, -81.0260).
Other tornadoes from the same storm system
1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 895061. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.
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