Tornado, McDowell
- When
- April 20, 12:50 PM EST to 1:10 PM EST
- Where
- McDowell County, 8 mi S of Marion
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.1 mi
- Path width
- 30 yd
- Property damage
- $20,000
- Coordinates
- 35.570, -82.020
Tornado in North Carolina, April 20, 1996
A small tornado briefly touched down south of Marion. the roof was blown off a carport, part of the roof of a house was removed, and several trees and antennae were blown down.
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
- 0
- Property damage
- $20,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
What happened
The episode as NWS GSP wrote it up.
A small tornado briefly touched down south of Marion. the roof was blown off a carport, part of the roof of a house was removed, and several trees and antennae were blown down. A concrete well lid was blown off and carried several hunderd yards. The damage was surveyed by emergency managment personnel and determined to be tornadic.
The radar
The Greer radar (KGSP), 78 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:49 UTC.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
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.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Damaging Wind in Indiana, April 20, 1996
- Tornado in Kentucky, April 20, 1996
- Tornado in Tennessee, April 20, 1996
- Tornado in Kentucky, April 20, 1996
- Tornado in Indiana, April 20, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Mississippi, April 20, 1996
- Tornado in Indiana, April 20, 1996
- Tornadoes in Tennessee, April 20, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Tennessee, April 20, 1996
- Tornado in Kentucky, April 20, 1996
- Flood in Michigan, April 20 to 27, 1996
- Tornado in Indiana, April 20, 1996
More
Every storm in North Carolina in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for North Carolina, 1996Warnings in North Carolina, April 1996
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: 5543333.