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EF1 tornado in Union County, North Carolina

Tornado March 5, 2025 · Union County, North Carolina

EF1

Rating

2.2 mi

Path length

75 yd

Path width

$150K

Damage as recorded

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 75 yards (0.04 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 began in the vicinity of Porter Ridge High School. Tree branches were broken and a free-standing light pole was broken off at the base. The fence around the schools tennis court was also blown over and two storage buildings collapsed nearby. The tornado moved northeast across Ridge Road, where a house under construction was heavily damaged, presumably due to air rushing in via window and garage door openings, which lifted off part of the roof. Numerous trees were uprooted or snapped along Friendship Baptist Church Rd. Minor structural damage occurred to a house in the Benton Acres neighborhood. The tornado continued northeast to Lawyers Rd just west of US 601, snapping several hundred yards of wooden power poles, while causing little damage to adjacent homes. The tornado apparently dissipated at this location.

The wider storm

An area of showers with isolated embedded thunderstorms moved across the North Carolina Piedmont during the morning in advance of a cold front. A brief EF1 tornado developed in association with an embedded line segment in Union County.

Began near Indian Trail Arpt (35.0880, -80.5770).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1241568. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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