Thunderstorm Wind in Hyde County, North Carolina

The National Weather Service in Newport/Morehead City NC has confirmed

a gustnado near Fairfield in Hyde County North Carolina on May 31st

2019.

A severe thunderstorm moving to the east produced a gustnado along or

just north of Lake Mattamuskeet near and just to the east of Fairfield,

NC on the afternoon of May 31st, 2019. The gustnado may have formed over

the lake before crossing over North Lake Road, just east of Fairfield.

While some smaller limbs were down in the town of Fairfield, the most

significant damage certainly occurred with the gustnado, mainly along

North Lake Road. Most of the damage consisted of smaller tree limbs

down, consistent with winds around 60 MPH. About 4 miles east of

Fairfield, again mainly along north Lake Road, maximum winds of around

80 MPH occurred. Here less than 10% of shingles on a house were blown

off, with larger sections of trees either snapped or broken.

Hyde County Emergency management provided us with extensive pictures of

the damage. They confirmed that all of the damage was oriented from the

north to south or in the same direction, which would not be consistent

with that of a tornado. We are very thankful that we also received a

great piece of video from a location along North Lake Road east of the

damage, that showed the rotation. A team from the office compared the

video to radar imagery of the storm. The strongest signature on the

radar was that of a downdraft, with very strong inbound winds toward the

radar site here in Newport or from the north. In addition the storm had

a strong rear inflow jet on the backside of the storm which often

contributes to severe winds of the downdraft form. Lastly our area had

been very dry up until this storm, with duststorms being reported in the

area that same after. The amount of dust likely aided in being able to

see this circulation so clearly.

A long lasting and widespread severe thunderstorm outbreak occurred during the afternoon hours, and lasted through the first half of the night. There were reports of very large hail up to 2 inches in diameter, and wind gusts up to 80 mph.