This tornado that occurred Friday a little before 4PM a few miles E of SAV hadn’t even been warned with a severe thunderstorm warning and there had been no watch either. So, no sirens had gone off. This was a highly unusual occurrence for this area in mid summer, especially with there being no organized strong storm system/no tropical cyclone:
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
655 PM EDT SAT JUL 28 2018
..NWS DAMAGE SURVEY FOR 07/27/2018 TORNADO EVENT
OATLAND AND WHITEMARSH ISLAND TORNADO
START LOCATION...2 E LEPAGEVILLE IN CHATHAM COUNTY GA
END LOCATION...1 SSW RIVERSIDE IN CHATHAM COUNTY GA
DATE...07/27/2018
ESTIMATED TIME...03:49 PM EDT
MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...
EF1
ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...107 MPH
MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...100 YARDS
PATH LENGTH...2.35 MILES
BEGINNING LAT/LON...32.0644 / -81.0287
ENDING LAT/LON...32.0379 / -81.0053
* FATALITIES...0
* INJURIES...0
..SUMMARY
THE TORNADO BEGAN NEAR BARTOW POINT DRIVE, JUST NORTH OF ISLAND EXPRESSWAY.
IT THEN CROSSED OVER THE FRANK W. SPENCER BOAT RAMP AND FISHING PIER AREA BEFORE
CROSSING ISLAND EXPRESSWAY. THE TORNADO CONTINUED SOUTHEAST ACROSS OATLAND ISLAND,
WHERE IT WAS ESTIMATED TO HAVE SNAPPED AND UPROOTED OVER 100 LARGE HARDWOOD AND
SOFTWOOD TREES. IT ALSO REMOVED THE ROOF FROM A LOG CABIN AND PARTIALLY DAMAGED THE
ROOF TO ANOTHER STRUCTURE IN THE DELK-DAWSON HERITAGE HOMESTEAD ON OATLAND ISLAND.
THE TORNADO CONTINUED SOUTHEAST OVER RICHARDSON CREEK, ENTERING THE GRAYS SUBDIVISION
ON WHITEMARSH ISLAND. IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD, THE TORNADO SNAPPED AND UPROOTED
MANY LARGE TREES. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE SURVEYED IN THE GRAYS SUBDIVISION
WERE LARGE SNAPPED AND UPROOTED TREES THAT HAD FALLEN ONTO APPROXIMATELY 50 HOMES.
SEVERAL HOMES ALSO HAD SIGNIFICANT SHINGLE DAMAGE. THE TORNADO THEN CROSSED
HIGHWAY 80, MOVING OVER ISLANDS CHRISTIAN CHURCH BEFORE TAKING A NARROW PATH
ALONG DOLPHIN LANE, PASSING NEAR MARSH POINT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. THE ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL SUSTAINED MODERATE DAMAGE TO THE ROOF NEAR THE MAIN ENTRY OF THE
FACILITY. FINALLY, THE TORNADO MOVED SOUTHEAST ACROSS WHITEMARSH ISLAND DRIVE
BEFORE DISSIPATING NEAR ISLANDS HIGH SCHOOL, WHERE IT TOPPLED THE METAL
BLEACHERS AND DAMAGED SOME FENCING NEAR ATHLETIC FIELDS. THE TORNADO
LASTED APPROXIMATELY 8 MINUTES, ENDING AROUND 357 PM EDT.
EF SCALE: THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE CLASSIFIES TORNADOES INTO THE FOLLOWING
CATEGORIES:
EF0...WEAK......65 TO 85 MPH
EF1...WEAK......86 TO 110 MPH
EF2...STRONG....111 TO 135 MPH
EF3...STRONG....136 TO 165 MPH
EF4...VIOLENT...166 TO 200 MPH
EF5...VIOLENT...>200 MPH
* THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO
CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT AND PUBLICATION IN NWS
STORM DATA.
