Tornado in South Carolina, July 2, 2013

Name: Tornado in South Carolina, July 2, 2013
Start: 2013-07-02T17:59
End: 2013-07-02T18:10
Location: South Carolina

July 2, 2013 · NWS ILM · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A supercell moved north with no reports of damage until it spawned a tornado 2 miles east of Quinby in Florence County, South Carolina.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 9
Property damage: $88,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 ILM wrote it up.

A supercell moved north with no reports of damage until it spawned a tornado 2 miles east of Quinby in Florence County, South Carolina.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Wilmington, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 2, 2:12 PM EST, 3 hours 47 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 2, 2:12 PM EST, 3 hours 47 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 2, 2:48 PM EST, 3 hours 11 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 2, 3:30 PM EST, 2 hours 29 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Special weather statement, Jul 2, 4:33 PM EST, 1 hour 26 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Special weather statement, Jul 2, 5:27 PM EST, 32 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 120 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:59 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Florence

When: July 2, 5:59 PM EST to 6:10 PM EST
Where: Florence County, 1 mi NE of (Flo)florence City-C to 3.17 mi NW of Mars Bluff
Rating: EF1
Path length: 3.08 mi
Path width: 90 yd
Injuries: 9 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $88,000
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey
Coordinates: 34.192, -79.710

A National Weather Service Storm Survey Team concluded an EF1 tornado developed near the South Carolina Armory between South Stadium Road and South Greer Road. The tornado snapped a large tree and limbs were down in this location. The tornado then moved north and across Highway 76 and then across East Sammys Lane, snapping trees and downing tree limbs along its path. A couple homes were damaged in the Battery Park subdivision. One home had approximately 30 percent of its roof structure removed. Trees were down across the subdivision. The tornado continued north and nearly parallel to Williamson Road causing dozens of snapped trees and large limbs to block a large section of the roadway. After crossing Williamson Road, the tornado downed and snapped trees in a stand in the middle of a large field. Then it entered a mobile home park on the south side of East Old Marion Highway, west of Highway 327. The tornado destroyed 10 mobile homes and 2 other homes sustained major damage. In addition, there were 18 mobile homes that sustained minor damage. Nine people sustained minor injuries and were transported to the hospital, two of which were actually trapped in their homes and had to be extricated. The tornado exited the mobile home park and crossed East Old Marion Highway, snapping more trees and damaging a section of fence along the road. The tornado dissipated on the north side of East Old Marion Highway prior to reaching Highway 327. The maximum wind speed was estimated to 105 mph. The maximum path width was 90 yards. The tornado covered a little more than 3 miles in approximately 11 minutes. The monetary damage estimate is $87,979 dollars.

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

Every storm in South Carolina in 2013 Every state in 2013 This day in weather history The tornado archive for South Carolina, 2013 Warnings in South Carolina, July 2013

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: 463141.