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EF2 tornado in Jones County, North Carolina

Tornado April 16, 2011 · Jones County, North Carolina

EF2
Rating
2.4 mi
Path length
200 yd
Path width
$100K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

Tornado spun up near the intersection of Highway 41 and Highway 258 near Hargetts Crossroads. The tornado moved over mainly rural areas but did strike one house and severely damaged it with winds estimated 125 mph.

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 Hargetts (34.9960, -77.6400).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Lenoir CountyEF3 Onslow CountyEF2 Craven CountyEF1 Pitt CountyEF1 Tyrrell CountyEF1 Dare CountyEF0 Duplin CountyEF0 Duplin CountyEF0 Martin CountyEF0 Craven CountyEF0 Beaufort CountyEF0 Pamlico County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 291704. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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