EF1 tornado in Beaufort County, North Carolina

A tornado associated with Hurricane Isaias formed on the southeast side

of Goose Creek State Park that tracked northeast towards the Park's

parking lot. A swath of large pine trees were damaged across the track,

snapped from two to twenty feet up, and across trails within the State

Park. Special thanks to the Goose Creek State Park for their coordination with this

storm survey.

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.