Tornado and Hail in South Carolina, May 17, 1968

Name: Tornado and Hail in South Carolina, May 17, 1968
Start: 1968-05-17T14:22
End: 1968-05-17T17:00
Location: South Carolina

May 17, 1968 · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

2 hail, 1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 1
Property damage: $3,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

Event by event

2 hail, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Greenwood

When: May 17, 2:22 PM CST
Where: Greenwood County
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Coordinates: 34.200, -82.180

Tornado, Darlington

When: May 17, 4:00 PM CST
Where: Darlington County
Rating: F2
Path length: 1 mi
Path width: 20 yd
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $3,000
Coordinates: 34.200, -80.200

Hail, Lexington

When: May 17, 5:00 PM CST
Where: Lexington County
Measured: 1.5 in hail
Coordinates: 33.700, -81.080

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in South Carolina in 1968 Every state in 1968 This day in weather history The tornado archive for South Carolina, 1968

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 10112812, 10112813, 10112814.