North Carolina, 2001

Tornado in North Carolina, September 11, 2001

September 11, 2001 · NWS ILM · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 tornado, 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

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
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 forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Wilmington, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 11, 12:48 PM EST, 1 hour earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 11, 12:48 PM EST, 1 hour before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON, NC
148 PM EDT TUE SEP 11 2001

FRONTAL BOUNDARY TRYING TO EXIT OUR SWRN PORTION OF CWA. IT HAS
TRIGGERED SOME SHWRS/TSTMS ACROSS PORTIONS OF GEORGETOWN AND
WILLIAMSBURG COUNTIES. NOT PLANNING EVENING POPS FOR CWA. ELSEWHERE
SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE AND ASSOCD LOWER DWPTS CONTINUE TO SLOWLY
SETTLE S ACROSS REGION. BY EVENING INLAND AREA SKIES SHOULD BECOME
PC WITH CLEARING OVERNIGHT. HIGH PRESSURE SHOULD DOMINATE THE
WEATHER NEXT COUPLE DAYS WITH MAX TEMPS NEAR NORMAL WHILE LOWS
SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL.

EXTENDED: AVN/MRF TRYING TO DEPICT SIMILAR PICTURE WITH PIECE OF SYS
IN NERN GULF EJECTING NEWD AS ANOTHER VIGOROUS UPPER TROUGH DIGS
INTO NEW ENGLAND/MID ATLC REGION FRI. THIS WOULD SUGGEST POSSIBLE
INCREASE IN HIGH CLOUDINESS LATE THU AND DEPENDING ON TRACK PERHAPS
MC AND CHANCE OF PCPN FRI. BY LATE SAT SYS SHOULD BE PULLING
AWAY FROM REGION AND CONDITIONS IMPROVING.

CWF: AT THE FPSN7 AND 41004 4 FT SWELLS CONTINUE BUT SWELL HEIGHTS
MAY HAVE PEAKED WITH ERIN SLOWLY BECOMING MORE DISTANT. WILL NOT
HEADLINE THE DANGEROUS RIP CURRENT THREAT BUT THINK INCREASED THREAT
JUSTIFIED OVERNIGHT. EXPECT SOME NE SURGE IN LOWER LEVELS THUS WILL
CONTINUE SCA PRIMARILY FOR SEAS INTO OVERNIGHT HRS. UNCERTAINITY IN
MARINE SCENARIO IN EXTENDED BUT PERHAPS MENTION POSSIBLE GALES
FRI/SAT. MHX THANKS FOR COORDINATION.

FCSTID = 1
ILM   65  84  63  85 /   0   0   0   0
LBT   63  84  62  85 /   0   0   0   0
FLO   64  85  62  85 /  10   0   0   0
MYR   67  84  65  85 /  10   0   0   0

.ILM...
NC...NONE.
SC...NONE.
RWA

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 11 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:45 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Brunswick

When
September 11, 1:48 PM EST to 1:51 PM EST
Where
Brunswick County, 6 mi SW of Shallotte
Rating
F0
Path length
0.3 mi
Path width
20 yd
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
33.900, -78.467

A waterspout moved ashore just east of the Ocean Isle Beach fishing pier. According to eyewitness accounts from a police detective, the tornado moved northwest through undeveloped property across First and Third streets, then into the marsh on the north side of the island. No damage was reported.

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

More

Every storm in North Carolina in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for North Carolina, 2001Warnings in North Carolina, September 2001

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: 5270505.