TornadoLookup

Home / North Carolina / Mecklenburg

EF0 tornado in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

Tornado March 16, 2026 · Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

EF0
Rating
1.4 mi
Path length
25 yd
Path width
$50K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 25 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 weak tornado touched down along N Graham St near the intersection of Moretz Ave, where several small trees were snapped. The tornado moved northeast into a residential area, where additional large limbs were snapped. The tornado reached peak intensity of 85 mph as it crossed Atando Ave where sheet metal was peeled back off a large industrial building. Another warehouse sustained more significant roof damage with a large section of roofing removed. Several large pine trees were snapped behind the warehouse. The tornado weakened and eventually dissipated as it moved into another residential area along Drury Dr where a few small limbs were downed.

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 Charlotte (35.2520, -80.8270).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1326569. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.