Tornadoes · United States · South Carolina

2006 tornadoes in South Carolina

36 tornadoes touched down in South Carolina in 2006, 125 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2005 2007 The whole country in 2006

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.

  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 mph

    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.

Every tornado in South Carolina in 2006

January 13 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 135:18 PM ESTF0Lexington0.240
January 138:00 PM ESTF0Bamberg0.140
January 138:25 PM ESTF0Orangeburg0.350
January 139:02 PM ESTF0Orangeburg0.350$10,000
January 139:35 PM ESTF1Clarendon6.044018$500,000

January 17 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 177:40 PM ESTF0Laurens0.120$1,000

February 4 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 411:43 AM ESTF0Fairfield5.060

April 8 4 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 83:53 PM EDTF1Charleston4.51001
April 84:20 PM EDTF0Charleston2.650
April 84:23 PM EDTF0Berkeley0.250
April 84:25 PM EDTF0Charleston0.250

April 26 9 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 262:05 PM EDTF0Newberry8.060$70,000
April 262:27 PM EDTF0Fairfield12.060
April 263:23 PM EDTF0Kershaw1.060$10,000
April 263:42 PM EDTF0Kershaw1.060
April 263:45 PM EDTF0Clarendon0.260
April 266:55 PM EDTF1Colleton1.575
April 267:12 PM EDTF0Dorchester0.180
April 267:22 PM EDTF1Dorchester0.140
April 267:54 PM EDTF1Berkeley10.0200

May 7 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 71:23 PM EDTF0Orangeburg12.060
May 71:35 PM EDTF0Bamberg1.060
May 72:00 PM EDTF0Berkeley0.130$10,000

May 14 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 145:40 PM EDTF1Darlington0.6151$400,000
May 145:55 PM EDTF1Florence0.315$250,000
May 147:00 PM EDTF2Florence0.6150$1.3 million
May 147:42 PM EDTF0Berkeley0.125$1,000
May 148:48 PM EDTF1Charleston1.8175

May 20 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 206:33 PM EDTF0Berkeley0.2100
May 207:41 PM EDTF0Berkeley0.110

June 13 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 132:30 PM EDTF0Beaufort0.110
June 136:05 PM EDTF0Charleston1.030$3,000
June 137:50 PM EDTF0Charleston1.530$1,000
June 1312:10 AM EDTF0Charleston0.2100$10,000
June 1312:34 AM EDTF0Berkeley0.71501$20,000

November 16 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 161:19 AM ESTF1Clarendon16.480$5,000

Nearby

Every tornado in South Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in South CarolinaThe 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.