Thunderstorm Wind in Watauga County, North Carolina

Thunderstorm winds downed two trees onto the roadway.

A nearly stationary front that extended south from West Virginia into Western Virginia and North Carolina Piedmont served as the focus for thunderstorm development during the afternoon of September 25. Some clearing allowed for an increase in instability, but not quite enough to support widespread severe thunderstorms. Favorable upper level divergence was also present over the area as an upper low closed off over the Middle Mississippi Valley, and allowed for scattered storms to strengthen and cause isolated instances of wind damage and a tornado in Watauga county, which was only the fourth ever recorded since 1950. Southeasterly windflow around high pressure off the Atlantic coast brought deep moisture to the central Appalachians, which supported heavy rain within the thunderstorms. Some storms produced rainfall rates of three to four inches per hour, and passed repeatedly over the same locations.