EF0 tornado in Lenoir County, North Carolina

Tornado April 16, 2011 · Lenoir County, North Carolina

EF0

Rating

20.4 mi

Whole path

30 yd

Path width

Injuries

$30.0M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Wayne County → Lenoir County → Greene County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 30 yards (0.02 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

The tornado developed near the Wayne County line near the intersection of Old Jason Road and County Line Road. The tornado then quickly moved northeast across the extreme northwest tip of Lenoir County before moving into Greene County. Only minor damage to some outbuildings was observed with several large tree limbs also blown down.

The wider storm

One of the largest tornado outbreaks ever observed across eastern North Carolina occurred during the afternoon and evening of April 16th 2011. Several powerful super-cell thunderstorms developed ahead of an approaching cold front. Conditions ahead of the front were favorable for tornadoes with a moderately unstable atmosphere combined with strong winds that veered with height. Altogether 12 tornadoes were reported across the Newport/Morehead City county warning area. These tornadoes combined to produce over 40 million dollars in damages. There were numerous injuries but no fatalities were reported. In addition to the tornadoes there were several reports of damaging winds and large hail.

Began near La Grange (35.3441, -77.8233).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Onslow County EF2 Jones County EF2 Craven County EF1 Pitt County EF1 Tyrrell County EF1 Dare County EF0 Duplin County EF0 Duplin County EF0 Martin County EF0 Craven County EF0 Beaufort County EF0 Pamlico County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 291691. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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