EF1 Tornado — Wilkes, North Carolina

2024-04-11 · near Moravian Falls, Wilkes, North Carolina

Event narrative

A tornado touched down at a location around 2.2 miles south-southwest of Wilkesboro, NC and tracked north-northeast reaching Wilkesboro, before heading just slightly east of due north before ending over the western extent of the Sherwood Forest subdivision north of North Wilkesboro, NC. Along its path, the tornado caused the following damage: numerous soft and hardwood trees were snapped or blown down. Power poles were broken. Two churches were damaged. An outbuilding was destroyed. Winds damaged shingles on an apartment complex. A chimney of a home was damaged. The canopy of a gas station was bent. Finally, a small business had some of its shingles blown off. Damage values are estimated.

Wider weather episode

An area of low pressure tracked across the area during the evening hours. Numerous showers and thunderstorms were associated with this system. Some of these storms reached severe levels, producing damaging winds over mainly the northwest North Carolina Foothills region and one tornado in Wilkes County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.1200, -81.1700)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1170760. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.