Hail in North Carolina, May 29, 1996

A cluster of storms moved to the left as most severe storms moved east southeast across Upstate South Carolina. One left moving storm soon became dominant and transitioned into a hybrid supercell. A tornado likely touched down along a 5 mile path from Mooresville to Atwell. The same storm likely produced another tornado from southeast Salisbury to High Rock Lake. In both cases winds and falling trees downed numerous power lines and destroyed or heavily damaged signs, outbuildings, barns and homes. Several vehicles were crushed. The parent thunderstorm produced wind damage and large hail all along its track. The hail swath was notable because it was on the south side of the storm track. Hail was largest and most intense where tornadoes were reported. Although not conclusively tornadic, there is sufficient evidence and enough visual reports to log two tornadoes at this writing. There is some evidence the tornadoes were anticyclonic. The strongest damage occurred between Salisbury and Crane Creek at High rock where hundreds of trees were reported uprooted and snapped off. Billboards along I-85 were blown down. Two trees fell on a car on the interstate and the roof of a carport was removed in the same area. This damage was accompanied by a loud roaring sound.Other storms in the complex, and those moving from Upstate South Carolina, caused scattered reports of downed trees and power lines as well as large hail in locations listed above. Near Monroe a man died when his motorcycle struck a car after swerving to miss a downed tree in the highway.