Tropical systems help shatter S.C.'s annual tornado record

COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina's record-breaking tropical season is directly responsible for breaking another weather record.

A total of 84 tornadoes touched down in the state in 2004, shattering the old record of 54 twisters in 1995, according to the State Climatology Office and the National Weather Service. South Carolina averages 12 tornadoes a year.

All but eight of the tornadoes came in less than seven weeks as an unprecedented six tropical systems affected the state.

"It was an abnormal number of tornadoes. But we just happened to be in the favored quadrant for the storms too often," said Jerry Harrison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston.

The state ended up in the right front part of the storm several times, where the most tornadoes are formed.

Winds were just right, too, with ground-level winds blowing in from the southeast, while winds higher up were blowing from the southwest. Converging at right angles, they get a column of air spinning, and if it reaches the ground, it forms a tornado.

No storm caused more havoc than the remnants of what was once Hurricane Frances in September. "We almost broke the annual record in one day," State Climatologist Hope Mizzell said.

On Sept. 7, Frances spawned 41 tornadoes from Jasper to York counties and from Anderson to Dillon counties.The previous record for a day was 23 twisters from Tropical Storm Beryl in 1994.

Frances was blamed for 46 tornadoes in all, with twisters touching down in 28 of the state's 46 counties.

Other tropical storms weren't as prolific tornado makers. The remnants of Hurricane Jeanne caused 17 tornadoes on Sept. 27. What was once Hurricane Ivan spun off seven twisters on Sept. 16 and the remnants of Tropical Storm Bonnie caused three tornadoes Aug. 12. All of those storms moved into South Carolina after coming ashore in the Gulf of Mexico, a prime setup for tornadoes.

The two hurricanes that struck the state directly spawned very few twisters. Two tornadoes touched down during Charley on Aug. 14 and one twister touched down during Gaston on Aug. 29.

Most of the twisters were weak, with 77 of the 84 ranking as F0 or F1 on the Fujita Scale, which ranks tornadoes from F0 to F5 based on storm damage.

An F0 or F1 tornado has estimated winds less than 112 mph and stay on the ground for minutes at most, knocking down a few trees and mobile homes before quickly disappearing back into the clouds.

"It's not that unusual. Most tornadoes from tropical storms tend to be weaker and don't stay on the ground for long," Harrison said.

Two of the tornadoes reached F3 strength with winds that can top 200 mph. One not related to a tropical system destroyed a church near Jamison in Orangeburg on Dec. 9 and the other spawned from the remnants of Hurricane Frances on Sept. 7 demolished several brick homes near Cassatt in Kershaw County.

Remarkably, all the tornadoes caused just one death that came when an F2 tornado caused by Hurricane Jeanne destroyed seven mobile homes in Fairfield County near Ridgeway on Sept. 27.

"It was a pleasant surprise," Harrison said. "We would hope the message we get out about knowing what to do in these storms helped. But some of it was luck, too."