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EF1 tornado in Wilkes County, North Carolina

Tornado April 11, 2024 · Wilkes County, North Carolina

EF1
Rating
6.0 mi
Path length
150 yd
Path width
$250K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 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 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.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Moravian Falls (36.1200, -81.1700).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1170760. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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