Tornadoes · United States · South Carolina

2019 tornadoes in South Carolina

25 tornadoes touched down in South Carolina in 2019, 56 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2018 2020 The whole country in 2019

The rating scale

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

EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 2019

February 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 12	6:48 PM EST	EF1	Orangeburg	0.6	125

March 1 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 1	6:17 PM EST	EF0	Abbeville	1.5	75			$50,000

March 3 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
March 3	5:53 PM EST	EF2	Edgefield	5.0	200	7
March 3	6:03 PM EST	EF0	Orangeburg	0.2	25
March 3	6:30 PM EST	EF1	Aiken	0.4	150		$2,000
March 3	6:53 PM EST	EF1	Lexington	10.8	100
March 3	7:13 PM EST	EF1	Lexington	1.9	50
March 3	7:13 PM EST	EF1	Richland	1.5	150
March 3	7:33 PM EST	EF1	Richland	0.6	200

April 14 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 14	8:51 PM EDT	EF1	Greenville	1.6	200
April 14	10:03 PM EDT	EF1	Greenville	6.9	100			$150,000

April 19 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 19	1:48 PM EDT	EF2	Orangeburg	10.6	300
April 19	2:01 PM EDT	EF1	Orangeburg	7.8	400
April 19	2:07 PM EDT	EF1	Newberry	1.9	200
April 19	2:08 PM EDT	EF0	Newberry	0.3	25
April 19	2:29 PM EDT	EF2	Clarendon	2.9	250
April 19	3:00 PM EDT	EF0	Williamsburg	0.3	15
April 19	3:00 PM EDT	EF0	Florence	0.6	30	$50,000

September 5 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
September 5	4:37 AM EDT	EF1	Horry	4.8	75	$200,000
September 5	5:45 AM EDT	EF0	Horry	0.1	15	$10,000
September 5	6:37 AM EDT	EF0	Horry	0.3	25	$200,000

October 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 19	1:52 AM EDT	EF0	Horry	0.9	25			$25,000

October 31 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
October 31	5:59 PM EDT	EF1	Lexington	1.1	50
October 31	6:02 PM EDT	EF1	Lexington	0.5	100
October 31	6:09 PM EDT	EF0	Lexington	0.1	50

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.