EF1 tornado in Cleveland County, North Carolina

Tornado May 8, 2024 · Cleveland County, North Carolina

EF1

Rating

21.3 mi

Whole path

100 yd

Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 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

NWS storm survey found the path of an EF1 tornado that touched down along Polkville Rd, just north of Polkville proper, where several trees were uprooted. The tornado moved southeast across Casar Rd, where additional trees were uprooted and snapped. Tree damage continued along W Stage Coach Trail in the Lawndale area and south of Fallston, where the tornado crossed Fallston Rd and Fallston-Waco Rd before crossing into Gaston County between Baxter Rd and Highway 150.

The wider storm

A couple of waves of strong to severe thunderstorms moved from east Tennessee into western North Carolina...one during the afternoon and evening of the 8th, and another during the early morning of the 9th. Scattered severe storms produced several EF1 tornadoes, large to very large hail, and isolated swaths of damaging winds.

Began near Pottville (35.4330, -81.6510).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Gaston County EF1 Jackson County EF1 Jackson County EF0 Buncombe County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1186746. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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