EF0 tornado in Onslow County, North Carolina

Tornado March 12, 2026 · Onslow County, North Carolina

EF0

Rating

0.1 mi

Path length

20 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 20 yards (0.01 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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 brief tornado occurred in Jacksonville, NC, that caused a critical failure of the roof and

door structure of a large metal building used by the American Legion. The tornado was brief with a length of 0.15 miles and a width of 20 yards. No fatalities or injuries occurred with this tornado. Special thanks to Onslow County Emergency Management and Onslow County Public Schools for their assistance during the survey.

The wider storm

A low pressure area with a cold front attached to it tracked east across the Carolinas during the late morning and afternoon timeframe. Along and and out ahead of the cold front a line of scattered to numerous severe thunderstorms developed and quickly raced east northeast across Eastern NC, producing 60 to 70 mph wind gusts. With ample instability and strong wind shear in place several of the storms interacted with the sea breeze inland from the coast and produced several tornadoes, in addition to severe thunderstorm wind damage.

Began near Jacksonville (34.7469, -77.4518).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Pamlico County EF1 Pamlico County EF1 Pamlico County EF1 Onslow County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1323183. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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