F1 tornado, Adamsburg, South Carolina, May 25, 2000

1. F040 to 72 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. 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.

7. 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.

Rating

F1

Date

May 25, 2000

Touchdown

8:00 PM EDT (00:00 UTC)

Path length

1.0 miles (1.6 km)

Path width

20 yards (18 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Union County

Touchdown point

34.800, -81.530

Lift-off point

34.800, -81.530

Record number

222

Training multi-cell thunderstorms, some of which became supercells, tracked east across the Upstate during the afternoon and evening. A couple of the storms were particularly intense, producing long swaths of golf ball size hail and widespread wind damage. Trees were downed in Calhoun Falls. Golf ball size hail covered the ground for some time in northern Union county. Trees and power lines were blown down in the Travelers Rest area - some falling on houses and a sport utility vehicle. On the eastern shore of Lake Hartwell in Anderson county, 44 trees were uprooted or snapped off and several docks were blown onto the shore. Scattered trees were downed from Taylors to near the GSP Airport. Two people were slightly injured and equipment was damaged when a tent blew down at an outdoor church function in Taylors. Trees and power lines were downed from Reidville to Pacolet, across northern Union county and much of Chester county. Extensive damage to homes and businesses occurred due to falling trees and power poles near Roebuck, Whitestone, and Pacolet. More than 12,000 people were left without power in these areas. Northwest of Union a roof was blown off a trailer, 25 trees were downed - some on cars, and a billboard was blown down. A tornado was embedded in a large downburst in Adamsburg which damaged a camper, blew a large pontoon boat 75 yards, and produced extensive damage to trees and power lines. The downburst covered several square miles. Cars were damaged by falling trees in Baton Rouge and a roof was blown off a barn in Chester.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:09 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The Greer radar (KGSP), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:05 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2000 tornado in South CarolinaEvery tornado in South Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in South Carolina nowThe forecast where you are

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

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