EF1 tornado in Onslow County, North Carolina

Tornado March 12, 2026 · Onslow County, North Carolina

EF1

Rating

0.3 mi

Path length

50 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 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 near a farm on White Oak River Road in Maysville. The tornado damaged a farm building, causing significant roof damage, the collapse and removal of barn doors, and peeling off siding. Debris was blown downstream into a nearby

field. Within the debris field, a 2x4 was impaled into the ground. The tornado then went on to damage a row of trees before lifting. Within the area of damaged trees, some trees were snapped in half.

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 Belgrade (34.9030, -77.2713).

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 EF0 Onslow County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1323187. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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