EF1 Tornado — Alexander, North Carolina

2017-10-23 · near All Healing Spgs, Alexander, North Carolina

Event narrative

NWS storm survey found a path of a tornado across northwest Alexander County. This could have been the continuation of a tornado path that began across the southwest part of the county and straddled the Caldwell County line. However, the path of that tornado was lost in a heavily wooded area east of Caldwell Pond Rd and south of Highway 64. This tornado path began along Highway 64 in the Ellendale community and moved northeast, uprooting or snapping numerous trees along a fairly continuous path. The path was lost along Seth Deal Rd, about a mile west of Highway 16 and a mile south of the Wilkes County border. Two days after the event, a utility worker was killed after part of a tree that he cut fell on him.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.9220, -81.2870)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 723747. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.