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Charleston Tornado
Mon May 05, 2003
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Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook. In early-May 1761, a great storm hammered
Charleston, South Carolina. The South Carolina Gazette called it "a most formidable and
complicated meteor. Today, we would call it a tornado, which eventually became a waterspout as
it moved over the waters of Charleston Harbor.
May 4th dawned cloudy, windy and warm. Shortly after noon, the overhead sky filled with
fleeting scud and began rumbling with storm.
Suddenly, the sky began to seethe, and from the southwest, a whirling black pillar,
accompanied by lightning and hail, drove toward town. It tossed large branches and uprooted
giant oaks before reaching the Ashley River.
There, as Baptist preacher Oliver Hart reported, the tornado ploughed the river to its bottom,
laying the channel bare. A 12-foot high wall of water, pushed by the tempest, surged to the
sea.
Almost simultaneously, a second storm moved down the Cooper River. Together, the twin twisters
raced toward Rebellion Road, the principal anchorage of Charleston Harbor. There they
surprised forty anchored British ships, waiting to put to sea. The first tornado, now a
waterspout, laid every ship in its path on its beam.
Miraculously, only four lives were lost among the fleet, and the only land death was from a
plantation destroyed 25 miles inshore.
Although the storms brought great destruction, their passage over the harbor lasted but three
minutes. Then, the weather cleared, and a serene, sunny afternoon prevailed.
Thanks to our contributing writer, meteorologist Keith Heidorn. The Weather Notebook is
supported by Subaru of America and The National Science Foundation.
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