Tornado, Laurens
- When
- April 19, 1:25 PM EST to 1:33 PM EST
- Where
- Laurens County, Waterloo to 3 mi N of Waterloo
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 5 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Property damage
- $70,000
- Coordinates
- 34.350, -82.120
Tornadoes in South Carolina, April 19, 1998
Lines of low-topped thunderstorms moved rapidly north across the Upstate along a cold front pushing east. A few of these storms became severe and produced weak, short lived tornadoes.
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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $71,000
- 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.
What happened
The episode as NWS GSP wrote it up.
Lines of low-topped thunderstorms moved rapidly north across the Upstate along a cold front pushing east. A few of these storms became severe and produced weak, short lived tornadoes. The most damaging tornado occurred in southern Laurens county where trees were blown onto structures and vehicles. A tornado just west of Clover took a tin roof off a barn and blew the camper shell off a truck. Two skywarn weather spotters had visual contact with this tornado. A woman observed a brief tornado touchdown in a field behind her house on the south side of Rock Hill.
The radar
The Greer radar (KGSP), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:25 UTC.
Event by event
3 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado, York
- When
- April 19, 2:30 PM EST
- Where
- York County, 2 mi W of Clover
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.1 mi
- Path width
- 20 yd
- Property damage
- $500
- Coordinates
- 35.100, -81.270
Tornado, York
- When
- April 19, 3:08 PM EST
- Where
- York County, Rock Hill
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.1 mi
- Path width
- 10 yd
- Coordinates
- 34.920, -81.030
What these are
- 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
- Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in North Carolina, April 19, 1998
- Hail and High Wind in Georgia, April 19 to 30, 1998
- Damaging Winds in Georgia, April 19, 1998
- Damaging Wind in North Carolina, April 19, 1998
- Flash Flooding in Virginia, April 19, 1998
- Rip Current in Florida, April 19, 1998
- Flooding in Kentucky, April 19 to 30, 1998
- Flash Flooding in Virginia, April 19, 1998
- Flash Flooding in North Carolina, April 19, 1998
- Damaging Winds in Florida, April 19, 1998
- Damaging Winds in Virginia, April 19, 1998
- Flash Flooding in West Virginia, April 19, 1998
More
Every storm in South Carolina in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for South Carolina, 1998Warnings in South Carolina, April 1998
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5643382, 5643383, 5643384.