EF2 Tornado — Greene, North Carolina

2024-08-08 · near Snow Hill, Greene, North Carolina

Event narrative

A tornado touched down near the intersection of Highway 903 and

Hull Road in Snow Hill. At this location, minor damage to trees

was noted, as well as significant damage to a wooden billboard

sign. The tornado then moved northwest, nearly parallel to Highway

58. Just north of Highway 13 and Highway 58, damage to trees and

structures was noted. Most notable in this area was damage to a

house and several nearby barns, carports, and outbuildings. The

damage was rated EF-1 in this area. The tornado continued

northwest along Highway 58, damaging trees along its path. Just

south of Highway 58 and Fort Run Road, a double wide mobile home

was destroyed, multiple wooden power poles were snapped, a barn

was destroyed, and a medium size pickup truck was moved, or

rolled, 50 to 75 feet. Damage in this area is consistent with at

least high end EF-2 wind speeds. Additional assessment may be

needed in this area to determine if the wind speed was higher.

Debris from the mobile was blown at least 100 yards downwind into

a field to the north. The tornado then crossed Fort Run Road, with

additional damage noted at Fort Run Road and Corbett Town Road. In

this area, numerous trees were damaged, with multiple trees

snapped at the base. There is clear evidence of the tornado path

through a row of trees in this area. Minor damage occurred to a

home and outbuildings in this area, consistent with EF-1 wind

speeds. The tornado continued northwest, crossing Griffin Road,

where significant damage to farm buildings, and a detached garage,

were noted. Numerous trees were snapped at the base in this area.

The damage to the buildings is consistent with EF-2 wind speeds.

The tornado continued northwest, crossing Apple Tree Road, where

significant damage to farm buildings was noted, consistent with

EF-2 wind speeds. Damage to farm outbuildings and a house was

noted in this area as well. Scattered tree damage was noted from

Apple Tree Road northwest to the Greene/Wayne County line.

Wider weather episode

After making landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida as a Category 1 hurricane on August 5, Debby weakened to a tropical storm as it slowly moved across southeastern Georgia and offshore. Tropical Storm Debby then came ashore in South Carolina after stalling off the southeast coast for several days. Debby gradually progressed northward through central North Carolina and eventually into southern Virginia.

The circulation brought strong moisture advection to eastern NC priming conditions for a long duration rainfall and flash flooding event. Impacts included a widespread 3-10 inches of rain across the forecast area and flash flooding in several locations. Winds were not as much of an issue, though some gusts to tropical storm force were noted for some areas near the coast, which produced some minor tree damage. A tornado formed and touched down in Greene County, and was rated an EF-2. Storm surge was negligible.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.4448, -77.6878)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1209521. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.