EF1 Tornado — Hoke, North Carolina

2020-05-21 · near Raeford Muni Arpt, Hoke, North Carolina

Event narrative

An EF-1 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 100 mph briefly touched down 5.5 miles northeast of Raeford in Hoke County, NC, on the southern edge of the Fort Bragg Military Reservation. Damage consisted of an area of snapped and uprooted pine trees about 200 yards wide at its maximum width. The overall length of the damage path was just under a quarter mile. The tree damage straddled Plank Road, with the worst of the damage just south of Plank Road. The tree debris and ground vegetation was lofted high enough to result in a well-defined tornado debris signature on national weather service doppler radar at the time the damage occurred.

Wider weather episode

A large upper level low over the Tennessee Valley slowly lifted northward and into the Ohio Valley. This allowed for copious amounts of moisture and rain to affect central North Carolina. This resulted in several reports of flash flooding across western portions of central North Carolina, that lingered into the the morning of May 22nd. Several storms became strong to severe during the afternoon with day time heating, producing wind damage and a brief tornado in Hoke County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.0461, -79.1565)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 894446. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.