EF3 Tornado — Greene, North Carolina

2011-04-16 · near Jason, Greene, North Carolina

Event narrative

This is the second segment for the tornado that originally spun up in Lenoir County. The tornado moved into Greene county just west of Highway 903. The tornado produced mainly EF0 and EF1 damage across the southern part of Greene County with damage to trees and a few homes. The tornado intensified to EF3 with winds estimated up to 160 mph southwest of Snow Hill. The tornado continued at EF3 intensity as it crossed Highway 13 just west of Snow Hill. Numerous homes and businesses were severely damaged or destroyed in this area with some almost completely flattened. Numerous vehicles were also destroyed. The strong EF3 tornado continued as it moved north of Snow Hill and severely damaged the Greene County middle school where the roof was torn off. The tornado continued to produce EF3 damage as it moved along Albriton Road where large metal power poles were bent over or completely ripped out of the ground. The tornado finally began to weaken as it passed Taylor road and dissipated near Tysons Church Road. In all about 30 million dollars of damage occurred in Greene County. There were numerous injures, 2 serious. There were no fatalities.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.3682, -77.7923)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 291695. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.