EF2 tornado in Carteret County, North Carolina

Tornado November 26, 2013 · Carteret County, North Carolina

EF2

Rating

3.6 mi

Whole path

200 yd

Path width

Injuries

$6.5M

Damage as recorded

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

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

A waterspout moved ashore on Bogue banks and produced a 200 yard wide EF2 tornado with winds estimated at 125 mph. The tornado did significant damage at the Ocean Sands condominiums ripping the roof off several units. Two people suffered minor injuries and were treated and released from the local hospital. The tornado then tracked rapidly across Bogue Banks causing EF1 damage with numerous trees snapped with minor to moderate damage to several structures. The tornado then apparently moved back over water on Bogue Sound. Total damage on Bogue Banks was estimated at 2.5 million dollars.

The wider storm

Low pressure lifted northeast across central North Carolina during the evening of November 26th. Very strong southerly winds east of the low led to warm and slightly unstable conditions over eastern North Carolina. Bands of heavy showers and isolated thunderstorms lifted rapidly northeast across the region from late afternoon through the overnight hours. Isolated severed weather developed with some of the showers and storms including one tornado that impacted Carteret county.

Began near Camp Glenn (34.6970, -76.7740).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 480007. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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