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EF1 tornado in Orange County, North Carolina

Tornado July 6, 2025 · Orange County, North Carolina

EF1
Rating
0.2 mi
Path length
250 yd
Path width
$20K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 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

A tornado touched down on the northern end of Royal Oak Lane, just north of Lake Michael and slowly drifted to the south about a quarter mile before lifting. During this brief time on the ground, considerable tree damage was done, with dozens of trees snapped and uprooted.

The wider storm

Tropical Storm Chantal made landfall over northeastern South Carolina during the morning hours of July 6. The remnants of Chantal then tracked west-northwest into portions of central North Carolina, stalling out over the area before tracking east-northeast into Virginia by the 7th of July. Catastrophic flash flooding occurred from record rainfall of up to 11 inches in some spots of the Piedmont, included 6 flash flood fatalities across Chatham, Alamance, and Orange Counties. Widespread flooding particularly affected the counties of Orange, Chatman, and Moore. Four EF-1 tornadoes also touched down over portions Lee, Chatham, Alamance, and Orange Counties. Preliminary loss estimates across central North Carolina exceeded 40 million.

Began near Miles (36.1200, -79.2400).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1277014. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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