EF0 tornado in Madison County, North Carolina

Tornado March 16, 2026 · Madison County, North Carolina

EF0

Rating

2.2 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 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 weak tornado touched down several miles east of Mars Hill, uprooting and snapping numerous trees. A path of damage was evident for a little over two miles along Paint Fork Road before disappearing into the higher terrain approaching Chestnut Mountain, just past Metcalf Creek Loop.

The wider storm

A line of showers and thunderstorms, with embedded strong-to-severe storms moved across western North Carolina through the morning into the early afternoon. Several isolated, weak tornadoes occurred, along with sporadic pockets of damaging wind gusts.

Began near Ivy (35.8260, -82.4850).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF0 Madison County EF0 Mecklenburg County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1326568. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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