The September 1938 tornadoes weren't as strong as F4 ... according to the CHS WFO were a series of 5 tornadoes, 3 F1's and 2 F2's and it was a deadly outbreak, the strongest tornadoes hit right on the Market (Market St in Downtown Charleston) ... a snippet below from the CHS WFO studies below and the link to the page
http://wchs.csc.noaa.gov/Studies/SvrWXC ... xclimo.htm
ATYPICAL TORNADOES
The data clearly show that strong tornadoes (F3 or higher) are highly atypical in the Charleston, SC, CWA. While unusual, they pose the deadliest threat to the region and are a difficult forecast challenge due to their anomalous nature. Two of the deadliest tornado events in the history of the Charleston CWA were highly atypical, and occurred before the time period covered by data used for this paper. The deadliest tornado in the history of the CWA occurred in Georgia on 25 April 1929, at 2200 EST; at least 40 people were killed and 300 injured. The tornado was highly unusual in its time of occurrence, size, and duration; it is also the only F4 tornado ever recorded in the CWA. It had an average path width of 800 yards, reaching a path width of 1 mile in Bulloch County, where 31 people were killed. The 55-mile path length was the longest on record (Grazulis 1993).
Another significant tornado outbreak occurred in and around Charleston on 29 September 1938, at approximately 0800 EST, a climatologically rare time of day for tornado development. Five tornadoes (three F1s and two F2s) were reported in the Charleston area. The two F2 tornadoes occurred within 10 minutes of each other and followed parallel tracks 1.7 miles apart through the city. The first tornado occurred at 0750 EST, killing five people and injuring 20 others. Its path was fairly typical, with an average width of 100 yards and length of 2 miles. The second tornado occurred at 0800 EST and caused 27 deaths and 80 injuries along a 3-mile path that averaged 70 yards wide (Grazulis 1993).
Although these types of tornadoes are climatologically rare, they can, and do, form under the proper conditions. This knowledge, combined with environmental analysis using observations, Doppler radar, satellite, and model data will allow forecasters to anticipate and warn for these atypical severe weather events.
..btw I read you often on here..Very informative posts this season...thanks