Tornadoes · United States · South Carolina

1998 tornadoes in South Carolina

42 tornadoes touched down in South Carolina in 1998, 162 percent above the average of the record for the state. They killed 3 people and injured 35.

1997 1999 The whole country in 1998

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 mph
Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.
F3158 to 206 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5261 to 318 mph
Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.
Unrated
The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Every tornado in South Carolina in 1998

January 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
January 7	9:10 PM EST	F2	Pickens	1.5	40		4	$3.0 million

March 8 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
March 8	12:55 PM EST	F0	Bamberg	1.0	100
March 8	1:20 PM EST	F2	Orangeburg	1.3	80	$80,000
March 8	1:50 PM EST	F2	Orangeburg	5.0	100	$220,000
March 8	2:18 PM EST	F0	Clarendon	1.0	70	$2,000
March 8	2:55 PM EST	F0	Dillon	0.3	30
March 8	3:30 PM EST	F0	Horry	0.2	30	$30,000

April 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 3	5:40 PM EST	F0	Jasper	1.0	30

April 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 9	6:22 AM EDT	F1	Jasper	1.0	150			$50,000

April 19 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 19	2:25 PM EDT	F0	Laurens	5.0	50	$70,000
April 19	3:30 PM EDT	F0	York	0.1	30	$1,000
April 19	4:08 PM EDT	F0	York	0.1	30

May 7 11 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 7	5:08 PM EDT	F0	Oconee	0.1	50
May 7	5:25 PM EDT	F0	Oconee	0.1	50			$10,000
May 7	6:25 PM EDT	F0	Abbeville	5.0	50			$30,000
May 7	6:42 PM EDT	F1	Greenwood	10.0	100			$70,000
May 7	7:15 PM EDT	F3	Edgefield	5.0	880			$300,000
May 7	7:47 PM EDT	F2	Edgefield	6.0	440		2	$500,000
May 7	8:03 PM EDT	F0	McCormick	0.5	100
May 7	8:12 PM EDT	F1	Saluda	1.5	150			$50,000
May 7	8:15 PM EDT	F3	Edgefield	12.0	880	1	9	$1.0 million
May 7	8:45 PM EDT	F0	Aiken	3.0	100
May 7	12:13 AM EDT	F0	McCormick	0.5	100

May 8 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 8	5:00 AM EDT	F1	Berkeley	1.0	50

May 10 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 10	4:45 PM EDT	F0	Dorchester	0.5	50			$4,000
May 10	5:20 PM EDT	F2	Dorchester	10.5	670	1	7	$5.0 million
May 10	5:28 PM EDT	F0	Sumter	0.2	50
May 10	7:10 PM EDT	F0	Berkeley	1.0	40			$3,000

June 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 2	11:28 AM EDT	F0	Saluda	0.3	40

June 4 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 4	3:43 PM EDT	F0	Edgefield	0.2	50
June 4	6:30 PM EDT	F0	Chester	0.1	50

June 6 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 6	5:00 PM EDT	F0	Spartanburg	1.0	30
June 6	5:10 PM EDT	F1	Union	2.0	50
June 6	7:10 PM EDT	F0	Sumter	0.3	150	$2,000

June 10 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 10	11:45 AM EDT	F0	Florence	2.0	30			$10,000
June 10	11:55 AM EDT	F1	Williamsburg	20.0	30			$70,000

June 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 19	4:55 PM EDT	F0	Florence	8.0	30			$80,000

September 3 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 3	8:28 AM EDT	F2	Beaufort	18.0	80	1	4	$360,000
September 3	1:28 PM EDT	F1	Colleton	1.0	40
September 3	1:30 PM EDT	F2	Berkeley	7.0	430		9	$2.8 million
September 3	2:20 PM EDT	F0	Orangeburg	0.5	50
September 3	5:25 PM EDT	F0	Georgetown	0.1	30

Nearby

Every tornado in South Carolina since 1950 Warnings in force in South Carolina The live radar over South Carolina

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.