Severe Weather Awareness
The heavens thundered and the air shone with frequent fire;
and all things threatened men with instant death
Virgil, Aeneid, Book I, 1, 90
Severe weather is no stranger to South Carolina with an average of approximately 60 days each year
with thunderstorms. While the vast majority (90%) of thunderstorms are not severe, the remaining 10
percent have left their legacy in the history of the state.
- Damaging winds associated with thunderstorms result in millions of dollars in property damage each
year. These severe thunderstorm winds (at least 58 miles an hour) can exceed 100 miles an hour!
- Between Jan 1, 1993 and Sept 30, 1999 lightning caused an estimated $20 million in property
damage in South Carolina, injured 47 people, and killed 9 people.
- Large hail (at least 3/4 inch in diameter - or penny size) is a frequent product of product of severe
thunderstorms and causes millions of dollars of damage to crops each year.
- Between Jan 1, 1993 and Sept 30, 1999 the largest reported hail in South Carolina was 3.75 inches in diameter (that's larger than
- Hail has caused fatalities in South Carolina in the past, as reported in the South Carolina
Gazette on July 1, 1784:
"On the eighth of May last, a most extraordinary shower of hail, attended with
thunder and lightning, fell in this district, and along the banks of the Wateree; the
hail stones or rather pieces of ice, measured about 9 inches in circumference; it
killed several people, a great number of sheep, lambs, geese, and the feathered
inhabitants of the woods without numbers; its greatest violence did not extend
more than two miles in breadth, but where it began or ended is not known; within
that space it stript trees of their leaves and even their bark, and every blade of
grass was beat to the ground. But what is even more astonishing there are at this
time [46 days later] many wagon loads of hailstones unmelted, lying in the hollows
and gullies on the Wateree."
David M. Ludlum,
The American Weather Book,
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1982
Tornadoes are the most violent of nature's storms
with winds that can exceed 300 miles an hour. South Carolina reports
an average of 10 tornadoes each year. While most tornadoes are only
on the ground for a very short distance, some have traveled
almost halfway across the state. In 1924, a tornado that started in
Aiken County South Carolina traveled 135 miles into Florence County!
This tornado killed 67 people and injured 678.
There is nothing that can be done to prevent severe weather from striking South Carolina. While the
greatest threat of severe weather is between March and August (with the peak of tornado season
March through May), severe thunderstorms can strike any time of the year, and any time of the day or
night. Awareness of the threats posed by thunderstorms, and being prepared to take immediate actions
can save the lives of you and your family.
Severe Weather Preparedness and Education pages
The National Weather Service encourages you to use the severe weather information in your
broadcasts or printed articles. If more information is needed or if you would like to conduct interviews,
have panel discussions, etc., contact the nearest National Weather Service Office or the state Emergency Management Division.
To learn more about severe weather - visit one of the pages below: