F0 tornado, Zionville, North Carolina, June 3, 1998

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. F3158 to 206 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. F5261 to 318 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

F0

Date

June 3, 1998

Touchdown

8:17 PM EDT (00:17 UTC)

Path length

2.0 miles (3.2 km)

Path width

60 yards (55 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$20,000

County

Watauga County

Touchdown point

36.330, -81.830

Lift-off point

36.330, -81.800

Record number

429

Thunderstorms during the late afternoon and evening on the 3rd produced hail up to 3.00 inches in diameter, damaging wind, and a tornado.Thunderstorm winds toppled trees around Ayersville, blocking several roads, large trees and power lines in Glendale Springs, large trees in Meat Camp, trees in Mt Airy blocking some roads, trees in Reidsville,and trees and tree limbs causing power outages from 3.5 miles west of Zionville to 1 mile south of Todd. Numerous trees were toppled throughout Wilkes County, knocking down some power lines with 3300 people loosing power.A tornado from five and a half miles west to three and a half miles west Zionville in the western part of Watauga County destroyed a few barns and toppled trees and tree limbs causing power outages.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Abingdon (VJI), 44 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1998 tornado in North CarolinaEvery tornado in North Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in North Carolina nowThe forecast where you are

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.