Tornadoes · United States · South Carolina · 2006
F1 tornado, Huger to Awendaw, South Carolina, April 26, 2006
From Huger to Awendaw, this F1 tornado ran 10.0 miles across Berkeley and Charleston counties on April 26, 2006, touching down at 7:54 PM EDT and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody.
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 mphthis tornado
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.
The record
- Rating
- F1
- Date
- April 26, 2006
- Touchdown
- 7:54 PM EDT (23:54 UTC)
- Path length
- 10.0 miles (16.1 km)
- Path width
- 200 yards (183 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Counties
- Berkeley and Charleston counties
- Touchdown point
- 33.080, -79.670
- Lift-off point
- 33.080, -79.620
- Record number
- 428
What the Weather Service recorded
Tornado snapped off large trees and broke off large tree limbs in the Francis Marion National Forest. Tornado touched down about 7 miles east of Huger at 754 pm and traveled East near 5 miles before dissipating about 4 miles north of Awendaw in Charleston County at 803 pm. The tornado was rated low end F1 with winds in the 75 to 85 mph range and at the widest point was 200 yards wide.
Tornado snapped off large trees and broke off large tree limbs in the Francis Marion National Forest. Tornado touched down about 7 miles east of Huger at 754 pm and traveled East near 5 miles before dissipating about 4 miles north of Awendaw in Charleston County at 803 pm. The tornado was rated low end F1 with winds in the 75 to 85 mph range and at the widest point was 200 yards wide.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
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 forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:42 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 air that afternoon
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.
Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), 12:00Z
11.9 hours before the tornado, 39 km from the path. April 26, 2006.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 575 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -72 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 100 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1116 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 27 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 17 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 23 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 74 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.1 K/km
Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), 00:00Z
0.1 hours after it, 39 km from the path. April 27, 2006.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 324 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -42 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 119 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 639 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 48 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 19 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -72 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -90 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- -0.1
- Supercell composite
- -0.5
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.7 K/km
The surface observations
Charleston (CHS), 42 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:56 UTC | 75 | 65 | 170° 14 kt | 1008.1 | ||
| 22:56 UTC | 73 | 66 | 180° 11 kt | 1007.1 | ||
| 23:56 UTC | 67 | 64 | 280° 11 kt | 1009.1 | RA BR | |
| 00:56 UTC | 66 | 63 | 20° 7 kt | 1008.1 | -RA |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 139 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:54 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:11 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | West Ashley | Charleston, SC | TREES BLOWN DOWN ON POWER LINES ON BEES FERRY. |
| 23:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Summerville | Dorchester, SC | TREES DOWN AND HOMES DAMAGED IN THE CRESTWOOD SUBDIVISION. DAMAGE INCLUDES TRAMPOLINE THROUGH A HOME. |
| 23:20 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Charleston | Charleston, SC | PUBLIC REPORTED TREES DOWN NEAR INTERSECTION OF SAM RITTENBURG BLVD AND ASHLEY ROAD. |
| 23:20 UTC | TSTM WND GST 50 | Charleston | Charleston, SC | AT CHARLESTON COAST GUARD STATION. |
| 23:23 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Sw Summerville | Dorchester, SC | SEVERAL UPROOTED TREES IN THE CRESTWOOD SUBDIVISION ON SAW MILL ROAD. REPORTED BY WCSC BROADCAST MET. TIME ESTIMATED BASED ON RADAR. |
| 23:23 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Summerville | Dorchester, SC | POWER POLE FELL ONTO A RESIDENCE ALONG HIGHWAY 61. |
| 23:23 UTC | TSTM WND GST 53 | North Charleston | Charleston, SC | MEASURED AT KCHS ASOS. |
| 23:23 UTC | NON-TSTM WND GST 53 | North Charleston | Charleston, SC | MEASURED AT KCHS ASOS. |
| 23:24 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 S Ladson | Dorchester, SC | NUMEROUS TREES AND LIMBS DOWN IN COOSAW CREEK SUBDIV. |
| 23:24 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Oakbrook | Dorchester, SC | SEVERAL TREES DOWN ACROSS OAKBROOK. |
| 23:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Goose Creek | Berkeley, SC | TREE DOWN ON RESIDENCE ON CANNON AVE. |
| 23:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Mount Pleasant | Charleston, SC | TENTS FOR BLESSING OF THE FLEET TORN DOWN. WINDS ESTIMATED 60 MPH. WAVES BREAKING OVER THE DOCKS. |
| 23:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Summerville | Dorchester, SC | PARKWAY BUSINESS CENTER NEAR INTERSECTION OF HWY 17A AND HWY 78 HAD ROOF PARTIALLY PEELED BACK. BUILDING IS ON THE CANAL. |
| 23:25 UTC | TSTM WND GST 0 | Summerville | Dorchester, SC | SPOTTER REPORTED 30 TO 35 MPH WIND GUSTS NEAR BACONS BRIDGE AND TROLLEY ROAD. |
| 23:26 UTC | TSTM WND GST 65 | Goose Creek | Berkeley, SC | NEAR RED BANKS ROAD. |
| 23:28 UTC | TSTM WND GST 65 | Ladson | Charleston, SC | |
| 23:28 UTC | TSTM WND GST 70 | Goose Creek | Berkeley, SC | REPORTED BY WFO CHS MET IN CHARGE. |
| 23:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 E Oakbrook | Dorchester, SC | SPOTTER REPORTED 25 FOOT TREE DOWN IN BACK YARD. |
| 23:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Ladson | Charleston, SC | TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ALONG LADSON ROAD NEAR KOESTER ROAD. |
| 23:32 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Ladson | Charleston, SC | LARGE TRUCK CONTAINERS BLOWN OVER AT LADSON FAIR GROUNDS. |
| 23:33 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | West Ashley | Charleston, SC | TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ALONG ASHLEY RIVER RD. |
| 23:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Ladson | Charleston, SC | TRAFFIC LIGHTS DOWN ON HWY 78 AND SEVERAL CARS WERE IN THE DITCH. RAILROAD CROSSING ARMS BROKE OFF. TREES 8 TO 12 INCHES IN DIAMETER FELL ACROSS THE RAILROAD TRACKS AT THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY 78 AND LINCOLNVILLE ROAD |
| 23:50 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Huger | Berkeley, SC | FUNNEL CLOUD REPORTED NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY 41 AND ETHERA ROAD. |
| 23:54 UTC | TORNADO | 7 E Huger | Berkeley, SC | TORNADO SNAPPED OFF LARGE TREES AND BROKE OFF LARGE TREE LIMBS IN THE FRANCIS MARION NATIONAL FOREST. TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ABOUT 7 MILES EAST OF HUGER AT 754 PM AND TRAVELED EAST NEAR 5 MILES BEFORE DISSIPATING ABOUT 4 M |
| 00:00 UTC | TSTM WND GST 50 | Mcclellanville | Charleston, SC | FIRE STATION REPORTED WIND GUSTS OF 45 TO 50 MPH. |
| 00:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Sw Summerville | Dorchester, SC | TREE ON HOUSE AT INTERSECTION OF DORCHESTER ROAD AND BACONS BRIDGE ROAD. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in South CarolinaEvery tornado in South Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in South Carolina nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 26, 2006
8 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 26 | 2:05 PM EDT | F0 | Newberry, SC | 8.0 | 60 | $70,000 | ||
| April 26 | 2:27 PM EDT | F0 | Fairfield, SC | 12.0 | 60 | |||
| April 26 | 3:23 PM EDT | F0 | Kershaw, SC | 1.0 | 60 | $10,000 | ||
| April 26 | 3:42 PM EDT | F0 | Kershaw, SC | 1.0 | 60 | |||
| April 26 | 3:45 PM EDT | F0 | Clarendon, SC | 0.2 | 60 | |||
| April 26 | 6:55 PM EDT | F1 | Colleton, SC | 1.5 | 75 | |||
| April 26 | 7:12 PM EDT | F0 | Dorchester, SC | 0.1 | 80 | |||
| April 26 | 7:22 PM EDT | F1 | Dorchester, SC | 0.1 | 40 |
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.