EF2 Tornado — Gaston, North Carolina

2008-05-09 · near Gastonia, Gaston, North Carolina

Event narrative

A tornado track began just southeast of Gastonia and continued well into Mecklenburg County on the northwest side of Charlotte. Where the tornado first touched down, part of the roof was blown off the roof of an office building near the intersection of Union Rd and Garrison Bvd. The tornado continued east-northeast to the Garrison Blvd, S New Hope Rd area, where numerous homes and businesses received minor to moderate roof damage and numerous large trees were uprooted. The tornado produced sporadic, mainly minor damage as it moved through McAdenville, where it crossed I-85, blowing several cars off the interstate. The most significant damage was observed in the Catawba Heights/ Belmont area, near I-85, where much of the metal roof was peeled from a large wharehouse, causing 7 million dollars in damage. Another industrial business in this area lost most of its roof.

Wider weather episode

A mini-supercell thunderstorms produced a tornado with a nearly 20 mile path through the Gastonia and Charlotte metro areas during the early morning hours of May 9th.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.2535, -81.1765)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 102656. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.