EF1 tornado in Randolph County, North Carolina

Tornado November 16, 2011 · Randolph County, North Carolina

EF1

Rating

2.4 mi

Path length

200 yd

Path width

$500K

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 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 then crossed into western Randolph County at approximately 6:23 pm EST. Numerous homes in the Welborne Ridge Court subdivision were damaged. Damage here was mostly to roofs and siding. A travel trailer inside the mobile home park was flipped over and a nearby pickup truck was blown between 50 and 75 feet. A wooden outbuilding was also destroyed. Damage within the subdivision was consistent with EF-1 tornado intensity.

The last observed tornado damage and end point of the tornado track was to a barn on Finch Farm Road. Damage to the barn was consistent with that of the nearby Welborne Ridge Court Subdivision.

In total, more than a dozen structures were damaged in Randolph County.

The wider storm

A full latitude upper level trough approached central North Carolina from the mid-Mississippi Valley region during the afternoon. A surface low tracked across western North Carolina northeast to Danville, VA during the late afternoon and early evening. This low pressure followed a path along a weak low level boundary that had been in place over the western Piedmont of NC. A supercell developed along the front and attendant surface low and tracked northeast from upstate South Carolina into central Davidson and northern Randolph Counties, where it produced an EF-2 tornado.

Began near Fullers (35.8070, -80.0097).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF2 Davidson County 2 dead

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 351152. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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