EF1 tornado in Caswell County, North Carolina

Tornado April 15, 2018 · Caswell County, North Carolina

EF1

Rating

16.4 mi

Whole path

175 yd

Path width

$3.8M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Caswell County → Pittsylvania County, Virginia → Danville (c) County, Virginia → Pittsylvania County, Virginia; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 175 yards (0.10 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

A tornado touched down in Caswell County west of Pelham near Dusty Lane at 4:51 PM EST. It snapped numerous trees and damaged several outbuildings. By 4:53 PM EST, the tornado exited Caswell County and continued northward into Pittsylvania County of Virginia. It would later cross through the independent city of Danville and back into Pittsylvania County before lifting about two miles southwest of Dry Fork by 5:10 PM EST.

The wider storm

A strong cold front with a negatively-tilted upper level trough approached the North Carolina Piedmont. Plenty of wind shear with modest instability made conditions ripe for large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes. A supercell ahead of the cold front became strong enough to produce two tornadoes. The first tornado initially formed in Guilford County but crossed into Rockingham County and caused noteworthy damage, while a second tornado touched down in Caswell County and continued into Virginia.

Began near Pelham (36.5090, -79.5100).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Guilford County 1 dead

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 748589. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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