EF1 tornado, Islandton to Ruffin, South Carolina, April 15, 2007

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

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

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

6. EF5over 200 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

EF1

Date

April 15, 2007

Touchdown

9:41 AM EDT (13:41 UTC)

Lifted

9:42 AM EDT (13:42 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$10,000

County

Colleton County

Touchdown point

32.892, -80.906

Lift-off point

32.900, -80.904

Record number

0704150741-01

Phasing of jet streams allowed for a rapidly developing low pressure system. Large scale dynamics and instability allowed for several low topped supercells to develop primarily along and ahead of a cold front over portions of western counties of our area.

This Tornado snapped off or uprooted hundreds of trees...destroyed a large framed barn with debris spread over a half mile to the northeast. A large object hit a house breaking out three windows and knocking some of the bricks loose. Siding was also torn from the house. A large 8000 pound horse trailer was lifted up and carried 500 feet. An 800 pound grain wagon was lifted and carried 400 feet before landing on the ground. A bass boat was flipped over and a 4 wheeler was damaged along with other farm equipment. A tree also fell on a mobile home. Winds with this Tornado were estimated to be 110 mph using the new Enhanced Fujita Scale.

This Tornado carried two empty grain silos about 100 feet, snapped off or uprooted dozens of trees, destroyed a large portion of an outbuilding, and severely injured a dog. Maximum sustained winds with this Tornado were estimated to be 95 mph.

This Tornado overturned 3 mobile homes and shifted another 7 mobile homes off there foundations. It tore the skirting away from another mobile home, destroyed a storage shed, and snapped off or uprooted dozens of trees. A couple of trees fell on a house. A vehicle and an outbuilding were also damaged. There were 9 minor injuries. Winds with this Tornado were estimated to be 100 mph using the Enhanced Fujita Scale.

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

3 minutes of warning. NWS CHS issued a tornado warning for this county at 13:38 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 14:17 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 12:10 UTC and running to 17:33 UTC.

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, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:32 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 Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 30 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 13:40 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in South CarolinaEvery tornado in South Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in South Carolina nowThe forecast where you are

16 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.