F1 tornado, Pine Hall, North Carolina, March 20, 1998

1. F040 to 72 mph

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

2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

   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

F1

Date

March 20, 1998

Touchdown

3:14 PM EST (20:14 UTC)

Path length

1.5 miles (2.4 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

3

Property damage

$100,000

County

Stokes County

Touchdown point

36.320, -80.070

Lift-off point

36.330, -80.050

Record number

770

Severe thunderstorms during the afternoon hours on the 20th produced two tornadoes, damaging winds and hail to golf ball size.A supercell thunderstorm produced two tornadoes in North Carolina and a third one just over the Virginia border. The first tornado developed near Pine Hall in Stokes County around 314 PM EST and traveled northeast about 1.5 miles before dissipating around 317 PM EST. This small F1 tornado broke out windows, lifted a car off the ground, tore the roof off a house, damaged several mobile homes and toppled trees. The second tornado developed one mile southwest of Mayodan around 325 PM EST and traveled to the northeast about 12 miles before dissipating about three miles northwest of Eden around 349 PM EST. This rather large F3 tornado damaged or destroyed 500 to 600 residences and damaged or destroyed nearly all businesses in Stoneville and some businesses in Mayodan. This tornado tossed a truck 60 feet, carried a cinder block and an empty boat trailer about a quarter mile and pushed a 25,000 pound fire truck about 60 feet. The tornado knocked out a 300 foot section of a wall and severely damaged the roof from a large building in Mayodan. Damage to this building was estimated at 25 million dollars. The tornado was generally 100 to 400 yards wide, but in one place was around 800 yards wide. Two people lost their lives and officially 27 were injured. The fatalities included an 80 year old man who was pulled from his house southwest of Stoneville and tossed 500 feet in the air and a 24 year old woman who was in her car in Stoneville when the tornado hit. The tornado tossed her car into a building and then the wall of the building collapsed on the car. There were likely another 10 to 20 injuries that were unreported as people drove themselves to the hospital or were driven by friends. Cancelled checks and papers from Stoneville were found 53 miles north-northeast in Huddleston, Virginia. In addition, material from Mayodan and Stoneville were found at several locations around Martinsville, Virginia.After the tornado lifted three miles northwest of Eden, non-tornadic wind damage continued to the Virginia State line. Thunderstorm winds knocked down trees, damaged outbuildings and barns and tore shingles from some roofs. Hail up to half dollar size broke out car windows in Leasburg.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 11:01 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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.

Winston-Salem/Smith_(Asos) (INT), 26 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:12 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

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

11 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.