Tornado, Alleghany
- When
- May 27, 5:30 PM CST
- Where
- Alleghany County
- Rating
- F1
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Injuries
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 36.520, -81.130
Tornadoes and Damaging Wind in North Carolina, May 27, 1973
8 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 7
- Property damage
- $1.3 million
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 9
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
Event by event
8 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado, Catawba
- When
- May 27, 6:00 PM CST
- Where
- Catawba County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 31.3 mi
- Path width
- 300 yd
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 35.630, -81.350
Tornado, Cleveland
- When
- May 27, 7:00 PM CST
- Where
- Cleveland County
- Rating
- F3
- Path length
- 13.2 mi
- Path width
- 100 yd
- Injuries
- 3 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 35.170, -81.770
Tornado, Rutherford
- When
- May 27, 7:15 PM CST
- Where
- Rutherford County
- Rating
- F0
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Coordinates
- 35.380, -81.830
Tornado, Caldwell
- When
- May 27, 8:00 PM CST
- Where
- Caldwell County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 10.4 mi
- Path width
- 100 yd
- Property damage
- $25,000
- Coordinates
- 35.920, -81.670
Tornado, Lincoln
- When
- May 27, 8:30 PM CST
- Where
- Lincoln County
- Rating
- F0
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Property damage
- $25,000
- Coordinates
- 35.470, -81.330
Thunderstorm Wind, Catawba
- When
- May 27, 10:30 PM CST
- Where
- Catawba County
- Coordinates
- 35.750, -81.350
Tornado, Wilkes
- When
- May 27, 11:05 PM CST
- Where
- Wilkes County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 9.1 mi
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 36.300, -81.030
Tornado, Surry
- When
- May 27, 11:25 PM CST
- Where
- Surry County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 23.2 mi
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Injuries
- 3 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 36.350, -80.880
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
- Thunderstorm Wind
- Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornadoes and Hail in Alabama, May 27, 1973
- Tornadoes and Hail in Mississippi, May 27, 1973
- Tornadoes in South Carolina, May 27, 1973
- Tornadoes and Hail in Georgia, May 27, 1973
- Tornadoes in Indiana, May 27, 1973
- Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Tennessee, May 27, 1973
- Tornado in Missouri, May 27, 1973
- Tornadoes and Damaging Wind in Michigan, May 27, 1973
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Illinois, May 27, 1973
- Damaging Winds in Arkansas, May 27, 1973
- Damaging Wind in Kentucky, May 27, 1973
- Damaging Wind in Louisiana, May 27, 1973
More
Every storm in North Carolina in 1973Every state in 1973This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for North Carolina, 1973
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 10089204, 10089205, 10089206, 10089207, 10089208, 10089209, 10089210, 10089211, 10089212.