Thunderstorm Wind — Wake, North Carolina

2014-01-11 · near Neuse, Wake, North Carolina

Event narrative

A woman was killed when she and her husband and son were walking on Abbotts Creek Trail when a large tree limb and fell onto the family. The father son sustained minor injuries.

Wider weather episode

As a wedge front retreated northwestward into the western piedmont of North Carolina, modest warm sector destabilization via low-level warm advection and weak surface heating resulted in weak to moderate instability across central North Carolina. A line of strong to severe storms in advance of a strong mid-level trough approaching the Appalachians progressed eastward across central North Carolina during the afternoon hours, producing a long swath of wind damage from Stanley County northeastward to Halifax County. The damage was most extensive across Wake County, with numerous uprooted and toppled trees across the Triangle, highlighted by a measured 86 mph wind gust at the Raleigh-Durham International. Four people were injured from fallen trees or large tree limbs , including one fatality.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.9100, -78.5700)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 483388. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.