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EF1 tornado in York County, South Carolina

Tornado May 3, 2021 · York County, South Carolina

EF1
Rating
0.5 mi
Path length
150 yd
Path width
$350K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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 found the path of a weak tornado along Highway 55 in far western York County. The tornado touched down in an open field just east of Clark Fork, before moving east northeast through a cluster of outbuildings at a farm site. One of these was completely destroyed, and two others severely damaged. 4000 turkeys housed here were killed. Two other buildings lost metal roof panels, and roof debris was carried along the path of the tornado. The only damage along the remainder of the path was numerous snapped and/or uprooted trees and downed limbs. The tornado lifted about one half mile west of the intersection of Highway 55 and Enon Church Rd.

The wider storm

Multiple supercell thunderstorms developed across upstate South Carolina during the afternoon. Two tornadoes developed across the Piedmont, including one significant tornado that produced the longest tornado track in the Upstate in almost 30 years.

Began near Smyrna (35.0770, -81.3860).

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 962598. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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