EF1 tornado in Beaufort County, North Carolina

A tornado associated with Hurricane Isaias formed northeast of Pinetown

in rural Beaufort County, where several large hardwood trees were

uprooted and large limbs were snapped along highway 32. Damage was also

noted to a large corn field east of highway 32 at the beginning of the

tornado's track. The tornado then moved north-northwest into rural

forested and hard to reach rural areas of Beaufort County.

Hurricane Isaias originated from a vigorous tropical wave off the coast of Africa that was first identified by the National Hurricane Center on July 23, 2020. The tropical wave gradually became more organized, and became Tropical Storm Isaias on July 30. Isaias marked the earliest ninth named storm on record, surpassing 2005's Hurricane Irene by eight days. Isaias strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane the next day, reaching a peak intensity of 85 mph. On August 1, the storm made landfall on North Andros, Bahamas and subsequently weakened to a tropical storm before paralleling the east coast of Florida and Georgia. As it approached the Carolina coastline, it re-intensified to a hurricane shortly before making landfall near Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, at 11:10 PM EDT on August 3 as a Category 1 hurricane, and proceeded to accelerate up the East Coast of the United States. Across eastern North Carolina, Isaias produced tropical storm force winds, pockets of heavy rainfall, minor storm surge and tornadoes.