Tornado in Richland County, South Carolina

The South Carolina Forestry Commission completed an aerial survey over an area

inaccessible by land. Radar indicated that the tornado likely touched down along the

upper reaches of Lake Marion in far southwest Sumter County, where a debris

signature was first noted on radar. The tornado moved to the NNW to near the

confluence of the Wateree and Congaree Rivers. The tornado continued moving to the

NW along the Congaree River and vicinity where it crossed back and forth between

Calhoun Co and Richland Co before eventually ending in Richland Co within the boundary of Congaree National Park. This tornado has been assigned an unknown rating as the degree of damage could not be determined from the aerial survey. Radar data was used to help determine the timing and location of the damage.

Hurricane Sally made landfall near Gulf Shores, AL, as a category 2 hurricane, in the early morning of Wednesday, September 16, 2020, and then weakened and turned to the NE, tracking across the Central Savannah River Area of Georgia, and across Central SC, as a post-tropical area of low pressure, on Thursday, September 17. Moisture, instability and low level wind shear, associated with the low, provided tornadoes, heavy rain, and flooding. 48-hour rainfall totals of 2 to 6 inches fell across a large portion of the Midlands of SC, with higher rainfall amounts of 6 to almost 9 inches observed across portions of the southern and eastern Midlands from lower Orangeburg Co NE across S Calhoun Co, Sumter Co, Clarendon Co and S Lee Co SC. A total of 9 confirmed tornadoes occurred in Central SC during the morning and early afternoon of Sept. 17.