EF1 tornado in Halifax County, North Carolina

Tornado April 19, 2019 · Halifax County, North Carolina

EF1

Rating

11.7 mi

Whole path

350 yd

Path width

$700K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Nash County → Halifax County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 350 yards (0.20 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

This is a continuation from the tornado that tracked just east of Dortches in Nash County. The tornado remained on the ground producing intermittent tree damage as it exited Nash County and entered into Halifax County as it passed over Fishing Creek. The tornado lifted roughly a mile into the county just north of Low Ground Road. While tornado damage was not observed north of this point, debris continued to be deposited several miles north of the damage path.

The wider storm

A deepening upper-level trough, which featured a strong polar jet ejecting northeast atop an eastward advancing cold front, brought severe thunderstorms that produced

7 tornadoes and widespread damaging straight-line winds across central NC. The strongest tornado of the day in North Carolina formed in southwestern Orange County and reached EF-2 strength as it neared Hillsborough. Along its path estimated at 12 miles long and a maximum of 600 yards wide, the roof and exterior walls of one home were reported as completely destroyed.

Began near Enfield (36.1540, -77.7376).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Orange County EF1 Chatham County EF1 Edgecombe County EF1 Halifax County EF1 Sampson County EF1 Moore County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 820419. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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