EF0 tornado, Murray to Chapin, South Carolina, August 17, 2021

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

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

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   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

EF0

Date

August 17, 2021

Touchdown

3:33 PM EDT (19:33 UTC)

Lifted

3:43 PM EDT (19:43 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

4.3 miles (7.0 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Lexington County

Touchdown point

33.971, -81.497

Lift-off point

34.034, -81.496

Record number

2108171333-01

19 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS CAE, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 95 mph.

• Rotted pine tree snapped and landed on a home.
• Multiple uprooted pines in same general direction. Possible inflow
• One snapped pine on building
• 100 yard, multiple hard and soft wood snapped and uprooted

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

Remnants of Tropical Storm Fred, which became Tropical Depression Fred, tracked NE through northern Georgia into the Upstate South Carolina. The system provided enough rotation to develop a few tornadoes across the Midlands. A rain band compromised of showers and thunderstorms moved north-northeast across central South Carolina during the afternoon of the 17th. A second band moved through during the evening of the 17th. These bands spawned a total of 5 tornadoes across central South Carolina.

A National Weather Service storm survey confirmed a low-end EF1|tornado that moved from Lexington County over Lake Murray, then across Newberry County near the Dreher Island Peninsula. The peak wind for the Lexington County portion of the tornado was 65 mph. ||The tornado initially produced sporadic and mainly minor tree damage|south of Lake Murray where it moved northward from near Windmill|Road, across Devils Backbone Road and Ridge Road. Drone video|provided to the National Weather Service confirms the track and|timing of the tornado, which was ongoing at the same time as a|tornado just to its west. The tornado caused more tree damage near|Highway 378 at Lake Murray between Rocky Ridge Road and Adams Park|Road then moved to the northeast over Lake Murray. The National|Weather Service received video and eye witness reports that the|tornado traveled over the lake west of Driftwood Point Road.|Additional video taken from Heron Lane shows that the tornado|remained in-tact as it continued north-northeast towards Dreher Island|State Park.||Thanks to the Lexington County Department of Emergency Services for|providing some damage assessments.

A National Weather Service storm survey team confirmed an EF0 tornado,|with peak wind speeds of 75 mph, north of Leesville in|Lexington County, SC, near the Saluda County border. The tornado|produced sporadic and mainly minor tree damage as it moved|northward from near Derrick Hollow Road to near Holley Ferry Road|and Highway 378.||Drone video provided to the National Weather Service confirms this|tornado, which was ongoing at the same time as a tornado just to its|east.

The tornado originally formed in Lexington County near Windmill Road moved northeast across Lake Murray and then across the peninsula near Dreher Island State Park in Newberry County. ||After moving across Newberry County, near Dreher Island State Park, the tornado moved back over Lake Murray and continued north-northeast toward Grassy Meadow Court and RB Baker Drive. When it moved onshore in this area, it snapped or uprooted numerous trees. Along Backwater Court the downed trees hit the roof of two homes, destroyed the roof of a boat house and damaged the boat inside. The downed trees also damaged a pontoon boat resulting in major damage. As the tornado continued north-northeast across Crystal Cove, trees landed on two homes, resulting in roof damage and pulling the porch off one of the homes. The tornado eventually dissipated near St. Peters Church Road. ||The area experienced an EF-1 tornado with estimated winds of 95 mph and a width of 250 yards.

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

21 minutes of warning. NWS CAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:12 UTC, 21 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:03 UTC and running to 22:28 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:10 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 Columbia radar (KCAE), 35 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:35 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 2021 tornado in South CarolinaEvery tornado in South Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in South Carolina nowThe forecast where you are

21 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.