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EF2 tornado in Burke County, North Carolina

Tornado October 23, 2017 · Burke County, North Carolina

EF2
Rating
11.3 mi
Whole path
300 yd
Path width
$2.0M
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 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

NWS storm survey found the path of a strong tornado that began at the Hickory Regional Airport. A hangar at the airport was destroyed and several aircraft flipped. The tornado moved northeast to Winkler Park, damaging part of L.P. Frans stadium before moving into Catawba County. Numerous trees were also blown down in this area.

The wider storm

A band of rain showers along and ahead of a strong cold front quickly intensified during the afternoon across Upstate South Carolina, then moved quickly northeast into the North Carolina foothills and far western Piedmont. Multiple severe and/or tornadic thunderstorms developed within the line, with multiple tornadoes, some of which were quite strong, reported across the area. This was the second tornado outbreak to impact the this area in just over two weeks, and for the most part, the same counties that were impacted on October 8th were once again affected on the 23rd. Meanwhile, moderate to heavy rain falling throughout the morning hours, followed by a brief period of intense rainfall associated with the band of rain showers resulted in areas of flooding and flash flooding near the eastern escarpment of the Blue Ridge.

Began near (hky)hickory Muni Ar (35.7430, -81.3900).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 723700. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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