EF3 tornado in Forsyth County, North Carolina

Tornado May 8, 2008 · Forsyth County, North Carolina

EF3

Rating

6.4 mi

Whole path

300 yd

Path width

Injuries

$2.7M

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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 tornado originated from the same parent supercell that produced the tornado in Davie County which lifted in Forsyth County just across the Yadkin River. This second tornado touched down just southwest of Hampton Road. Three metal barns sustained major damage around the 4800 block of Hampton Road with minor damage to two homes. The tornado continued northeast through wooded farmland before hitting the Bridgepoint Subdivision where the tornado strengthened to EF-3 intensity. Three homes were destroyed and approximately thirty homes sustained moderate damage. There were only two minor injuries in the subdivision.

The tornado continued to track to the northeast across Frye Bridge Road and through a heavily wooded area. It then dissipated near the intersection of Cooper Road and Fraternity Church Road. A few homes suffered damage, primarily due to fallen trees. Hardwood tree damage in the area was consistent with EF-2 intensity as tree trunks were snapped in a 200 to 300 yard path. The overall path length of the tornado was around 3 miles with a maximum width of 300 yards.

The wider storm

A strong upper level low moving east-northeast across Kentucky and Tennessee, triggered several instances of severe damaging winds and two tornadoes across the Triad region in the northwest piedmont of North Carolina.

Began near Clemmons Station (35.9835, -80.3753).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF2 Guilford County 1 dead

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 98573. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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