EF1 tornado in Johnston County, North Carolina

Tornado November 15, 2008 · Johnston County, North Carolina

EF1

Rating

0.9 mi

Path length

50 yd

Path width

$30K

Damage as recorded

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

The tornado initially touched down just off Noah Road, where it uprooted several trees. It traveled north-northwest across bare fields, taking down mature trees for approximately one half mile. The tornado then crossed Wood Crossroads Road, where it produced significant roof damage to one double-wide mobile home and ripped the porch off a single level brick home. The tornado then proceeded north-northwest across open fields before producing minor damage on Five Point Roads to a aluminum skirt of a double-wide mobile home and other minor damage to sheds and storage buildings.

The wider storm

Two mini-supercells tracked northeast along a warm front during the early morning hours of the 15th. The two supercells spawned several tornadoes in Samspon, Johnston, and Wilson counties, two of which resulted in two fatalities.

Began near Peacocks Xrds (35.3385, -78.4554).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Wilson County 1 dead EF2 Johnston County 1 dead EF0 Sampson County EF0 Johnston County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 135136. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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