EF0 Tornado — Dare, North Carolina

2025-05-15 · near Wanchese, Dare, North Carolina

Event narrative

A brief, weak tornado touched down Thursday evening just south of

Wanchese on Roanoke Island. Video of the tornado was sent to the

office of a brief touchdown over the baseball fields of Pigum

Walker Park. The path consisted mainly of a mix of medium and

large limbs across the field. A bleacher was tossed about 10 to 15

feet into a concessions building where it then lifted toward the

parking lot. The concessions building lost shingles on both the

south and north side of the building, a strong indication of

rotation in this area, as confirmed by the video submitted to the

office. Peak wind speeds here were estimated at around 80 MPH.

A narrow and sporadic damage path continued to the southeast

across Brinkly Road, and near Old Schoolhouse Road. Damage here

again consisted of mainly medium sized limbs, but a few larger

limbs were noted. One tree was snapped halfway up the base but

were likely weaker due to disease in the middle, with winds

estimated around 75 MPH.

The path continued toward the southeast on Holly Lane, where a

medium, healthy tree was uprooted. Numerous medium to large

branches were found all along the path. While the tree was

uprooted to the south, numerous tree branches were bent back

toward the right of the path (or toward the east), confirming

rotation continued in this area. The damage path finally ended

near E R Daniels Road, where a shed was blown over, a few more

medium limbs were broken, and some horse training equipment was

blown over. Winds here likely weakened to 70 MPH.

Wider weather episode

A stalled frontal boundary produced thunderstorms, concentrated north of Highway 70, with the greatest coverage along and north of Highway 264. Several storms became severe and produced damaging winds, large hail up to tennis ball size, and an isolated tornado.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.8457, -75.6500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1245878. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.