Tornado events in Richland County, South Carolina The tornado events on record, by date and by year

This page is a county record of past events and claims. It does not show the flood zone or the risk of an address. For the flood map of an address, use FEMA's address search (opens in a new tab).

NCEI has 43 tornado events on record for Richland County, South Carolina, from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026.

The newest tornado event on record is on 12 Mar 2026.

From 2016 through 2025, NCEI has 7 tornado events on record for the county.

The NWS collects event reports from a variety of sources, which include (but are not limited to): county, state, and federal emergency management officials, local law enforcement officials, SKYWARN spotters, NWS damage surveys, newspaper clipping services, the insurance industry, and the general public, among others.
The National Weather Service reports property and crop damage estimates using available data at the time of event reporting. These values should therefore be considered broad estimates. Damage amounts are not adjusted for inflation.
The words of the agency. Source: NOAA NCEI, Storm Events Database, page "Frequently Asked Questions", copied on 2 Oct 2026.

Date of the data: NCEI storm events through 30 Jun 2026. Event types on this page: Tornado.

Newest tornado events on record

Mar 12 2026

TornadoEF0

1 mile S of BALLENTINE

Dec 29 2024

TornadoEF0

3 miles ESE of CHAPIN

Jan 27 2024

TornadoEF1

2 miles NNW of PONTIAC

Sep 17 2020

TornadoEF unrated

3 miles SE of KINGVILLE

Apr 13 2020

TornadoEF1

2 miles ESE of SHARP

Mar 3 2019

TornadoEF1

2 miles SE of WEDDELL

TornadoEF1

1 mile SW of ST ANDREWS

Oct 11 2018

TornadoEF0

1 mile NW of WATEREE

Mar 3 2012

TornadoEF0

At DENNY TERRACE. Damage estimate: $30 thousand

Mar 15 2008

TornadoEF1

1 mile E of SHARP

TornadoEF1

4 miles WNW of SPRING HILL. Damage estimate: $10 thousand

Feb 4 2006

TornadoF0

10 miles WSW of BLYTHEWOOD

Jan 13 2006

TornadoF0

2 miles SW of BALLENTINE

Sep 7 2004

TornadoF0

1 mile SE of COLUMBIA

TornadoF1

At FT JACKSON. Damage estimate: $300 thousand

TornadoF2

2 miles SE of GADSDEN. Damage estimate: $100 thousand

Jun 13 2001

TornadoF0

At FT JACKSON

Mar 29 2001

TornadoF0

5 miles SW of EASTOVER

Mar 16 2000

TornadoF0

2 miles WSW of MC ENTIRE ANG

TornadoF0

At FT JACKSON

Jul 23 1997

TornadoF0

At COLUMBIA

TornadoF1

At COLUMBIA. Damage estimate: $205 thousand

Nov 7 1995

Tornado

At Columbia

Oct 27 1995

Tornado

At Columbia

Jan 6 1995

TornadoF1

The site does not show the place text of this record. Damage estimate: $10 million

A place is the text of the NCEI record: a distance and a direction from a reference place. The site does not show a place text that names a private property or reads as a person. A tornado before February 2007 has a rating on the Fujita scale (F). A later tornado has a rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale (EF).

Tornado events by year

Tornado events on record for Richland County by year, 1950 to 2026
Decade	Year that ends in 0	Year that ends in 1	Year that ends in 2	Year that ends in 4	Year that ends in 5	Year that ends in 6	Year that ends in 7	Year that ends in 8	Year that ends in 9	All
1950s	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
1960s	0	0	0	2	1	0	2	0	0	5
1970s	0	1	1	0	1	1	1	0	0	5
1980s	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	5
1990s	0	0	0	2	3	0	2	0	0	7
2000s	2	2	0	3	0	2	0	2	0	11
2010s	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	4
2020s	2	0	0	2	0	1 (part of the year)				5

A darker cell has a larger count. The number is in each cell.

Tornado events are on record from 1950. The year 2026 has the events through 30 Jun 2026 only.

By month, all years

Jan4 events
Feb2 events
Mar10 events
Apr2 events
May4 events
Jun4 events
Jul3 events
Aug4 events
Sep4 events
Oct2 events
Nov3 events
Dec1 event

Magnitudes on record

Tornado events on record for Richland County by rating
Rating	Wind estimate of the scale	Events
EF0 or F0	65 to 85 mph (EF0)	16
EF1 or F1	86 to 110 mph (EF1)	17
EF2 or F2	111 to 135 mph (EF2)	7
EF3 or F3	136 to 165 mph (EF3)	0
EF4 or F4	166 to 200 mph (EF4)	0
EF5 or F5	more than 200 mph (EF5)	0
Unrated	no rating on record	3

Tornadoes may contain multiple segments. A tornado that crosses a county line or state line is considered a separate segment.

The words of the agency. Source: NOAA NCEI, Storm Events Database, page "Frequently Asked Questions", copied on 2 Oct 2026.

The Enhanced F-scale still is a set of wind estimates (not measurements) based on damage.

The words of the agency. Source: NOAA NWS Storm Prediction Center, Enhanced Fujita Tornado Damage Scale, copied on 2 Oct 2026.

The wind estimates are those of the Enhanced Fujita scale.

Beside the other counties

Tornado events on record: Richland County beside the total of the counties of South Carolina and of the United States
Measure	Richland	All counties of South Carolina	All counties of the United States
Tornado events, 1950 to 2026	43	1,319	81,254
Events for each 100 square miles	5.7	4.4	2.3
Events for each 10,000 residents	1.0	2.5	2.4

The columns for the state and the United States total the counties. They count the events of each county in the same way as the county column. A forecast zone with another name than a county counts for the state only.

More tornado events on record

Tornado events on record for Richland County, newest first, without the 25 newest events above
Date	Event type	Magnitude	Damage estimate	Deaths	Injuries	On record for
16 Aug 1994	Tornado	F0	none	0	0	County
16 Aug 1994	Tornado	F1	none	0	0	County
16 Jun 1989	Tornado	F0	none	0	0	County
31 Aug 1987	Tornado	F2	$250 thousand	0	2	County
20 Apr 1981	Tornado	F1	$250	0	0	County
11 Feb 1981	Tornado	F1	$25 thousand	0	0	County
20 May 1980	Tornado	F1	$250 thousand	0	0	County
19 Jun 1977	Tornado	F1	$25 thousand	0	0	County
15 May 1976	Tornado	F2	$250 thousand	1	3	County
12 Nov 1975	Tornado	F2	$250 thousand	0	7	County
10 Jan 1972	Tornado	F1	$250 thousand	0	1	County
12 May 1971	Tornado	F1	$30	0	0	County
24 Nov 1967	Tornado	F1	$250 thousand	0	0	County
29 May 1967	Tornado	F2	$25 thousand	0	3	County
26 Mar 1965	Tornado	F0	none	0	0	County
29 Aug 1964	Tornado	F2	$250 thousand	0	0	County
3 Jul 1964	Tornado	F2	$25 thousand	0	0	County
11 Jun 1955	Tornado	F0	$3 thousand	0	0	County

The table has all other events on record. A damage figure is an estimate in the NCEI record.

Official channels

NCEI Storm Events Database (opens in a new tab)Search the full NCEI record by state, county and date.
National Weather Service: Columbia, SC (opens in a new tab)The forecast office that issues the weather warnings for the county.
FEMA Flood Map Service Center: Search By Address (opens in a new tab)Search an address to see its flood map. This site has no flood-zone data.

These links open the pages of the agencies. The site checked the links on 2 Oct 2026.

Cite this page

County Hazards. "Tornado events on record for Richland County, South Carolina". https://countyhazards.com/county/sc/richland/tornado/. Data: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database through 30 Jun 2026. Page made on 2 Oct 2026.

Questions

Which month has the most tornado events on record for Richland County?: March has 10 of the 43 tornado events on record from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026.
How many tornado events are on record for South Carolina?: NCEI has 1,319 tornado events on record for South Carolina from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026. That count has every forecast zone of the state.
How does Richland County compare with the other counties of South Carolina?: The counties of South Carolina have 4.4 tornado events for each 100 square miles. Richland County has 5.7.
Which tornado ratings are on record for Richland County?: 33 tornado events have a rating of EF0, F0, EF1 or F1. 7 events have a higher rating. 3 events have no rating.