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EF1 tornado in Rowan County, North Carolina

Tornado August 7, 2023 · Rowan County, North Carolina

EF1

Rating

36.2 mi

Whole path

550 yd

Path width

$100K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Catawba County → Iredell County → Rowan County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 550 yards (0.31 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A tornado that touched down in the Conover and Claremont area of Catawba County and crossed through southern Iredell County passed into Rowan County near Landis Highway. Damage was limited to numerous snapped large branches and uprooted trees as the tornado initially paralleled Highway 152 before crossing between Landis and China Grove. Minor structural damage was also observed in this area, while other structures were damaged by falling trees. The tornado lifted just east of Lentz Rd east of Landis.

The wider storm

Numerous thunderstorms and storm clusters moved across western North Carolina throughout the afternoon. Many of these storms produced severe weather, mainly in the form of damaging wind gusts, some of which were fairly long-lived. A couple of weak tornadoes also developed in the Piedmont, including a long-track EF1.

Began near Mt Ulla (35.5870, -80.7500).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Yancey County EF0 Mecklenburg County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1136773. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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