North Carolina, 2020

Damaging Wind in North Carolina, July 5, 2020

July 5, 2020 · NWS GSP · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Scattered thunderstorms developed over the Piedmont during the afternoon. Several of the storms produced strong wind gusts.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
1
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 happened

The episode as NWS GSP wrote it up.

Scattered thunderstorms developed over the Piedmont during the afternoon. Several of the storms produced strong wind gusts. A fatality occurred in Gaston County due to a fallen tree.

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 Greenville-Spartanburg, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 4, 6:31 PM EST, 19 hours 14 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 4, 6:31 PM EST, 19 hours 14 minutes before
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The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 125 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 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Gaston

When
July 5, 1:45 PM EST
Where
Gaston County, 0.45 mi ENE of Duke Power Vlg
Measured
40 kt (46 mph) estimated gust
Deaths
1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by
County Official
Coordinates
35.353, -80.973

County comms reported a tree fell on and killed a 34-year-old woman at a boat ramp off Eddie Nichols Dr.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

EventDateAgeSexWhereKind
Thunderstorm Wind, Gaston2020-07-0534FemaleOutside/Open AreasDirect

What these are

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

More

Every storm in North Carolina in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, July 2020

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 912685.