Tornadoes · United States · North Carolina · 2004

F0 tornado, Moore County, North Carolina, September 17, 2004

This F0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Moore County on September 17, 2004, touching down at 12:55 PM EDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
September 17, 2004
Touchdown
12:55 PM EDT (16:55 UTC)
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Moore County
Touchdown point
35.280, -79.320
Lift-off point
35.280, -79.320
Record number
1651

The air that afternoon

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.

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), 12:00Z

4.9 hours before the tornado, 103 km from the path. September 17, 2004.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 2004-09-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 888 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 551 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 2004-09-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 237 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 39 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
888 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1058 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
551 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
237 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
297 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.0
Supercell composite
5.5
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Southern_pines_awos (SOP), 8 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 87 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:57 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2004 tornado in North CarolinaEvery tornado in North Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in North Carolina nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of September 17, 2004

57 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 176:05 AM EDTF0Cleveland, NC0.940$50,000
September 1711:09 AM EDTF1Guilford, NC15.3100
September 1712:04 PM EDTF2Henry, VA8.84404$54 million
September 171:12 PM EDTF2Bedford, VA3.0300
September 171:25 PM EDTF0Chatham, NC0.525
September 172:24 PM EDTF0Pittsylvania, VA0.325
September 172:54 PM EDTF1Campbell, VA1.9100
September 172:59 PM EDTF1Campbell, VA3.075
September 173:44 PM EDTF0Albemarle, VA0.350
September 174:02 PM EDTF3Fauquier, VA9.02002$250,000
September 174:05 PM EDTF2Greene, VA5.01003$3.0 million
September 174:08 PM EDTF1Amelia, VA1.560$10,000
September 174:10 PM EDTF0Warren, VA0.550
September 174:12 PM EDTF2Madison, VA8.0400$200,000
September 174:12 PM EDTF2Fauquier, VA8.0150$500,000
September 174:15 PM EDTF1Caroline, VA1.5200$30,000
September 174:24 PM EDTF2Fauquier, VA13.0200$750,000
September 174:29 PM EDTF0Spotsylvania, VA2.075
September 174:36 PM EDTF0City of Fredericksburg, VA0.550
September 174:39 PM EDTF2Frederick, VA5.0125$250,000
September 174:42 PM EDTF1Stafford, VA6.0100$10,000
September 174:50 PM EDTF1Goochland, VA1.0100$3,000
September 174:56 PM EDTF1Louisa, VA1.550$20,000
September 174:59 PM EDTF0Henrico, VA0.5150$10,000
September 175:05 PM EDTF0Spotsylvania, VA0.150
September 175:15 PM EDTF1Orange, VA3.0100$150,000
September 175:20 PM EDTF1Loudoun, VA12.0200$500,000
September 175:26 PM EDTF2Prince William, VA4.0250$1.0 million
September 175:28 PM EDTF2Orange, VA7.0100$70,000
September 175:30 PM EDTF1Fulton, PA0.540
September 175:36 PM EDTF1Culpeper, VA0.575$850,000
September 175:37 PM EDTF1Frederick, VA9.02502$1.0 million
September 175:40 PM EDTF0Hanover, VA1.050$2,000
September 175:40 PM EDTF1City of Manassas, VA3.575$500,000
September 175:42 PM EDTF0Caroline, VA1.050$2,000
September 175:50 PM EDTF1Culpeper, VA0.175$150,000
September 174:55 PM CDTF2Fairfax, VA to MD15.02001$2.5 million
September 176:10 PM EDTF1Frederick, MD4.0150$320,000
September 176:11 PM EDTF1Caroline, VA1.560$10,000
September 176:23 PM EDTF1Caroline, VA2.0150$10,000
September 176:25 PM EDTF1King George, VA7.0250$500,000
September 176:34 PM EDTF1Goochland, VA0.240$10,000
September 176:35 PM EDTF0Greensville, VA0.8100$10,000
September 176:42 PM EDTF0Charles, MD3.0100$10,000
September 176:54 PM EDTF1Frederick, MD7.0100$50,000
September 177:14 PM EDTF1Franklin, PA2.030
September 177:28 PM EDTF1Franklin, PA2.550
September 177:40 PM EDTF1Jefferson, WV2.0100$250,000
September 177:50 PM EDTF2Frederick, MD3.0200$10,000
September 177:50 PM EDTF2Berkeley, WV2.01006$30,000
September 178:18 PM EDTF1Franklin, PA1.5100
September 178:30 PM EDTF1Bedford, PA3.5100
September 177:30 PM CDTF0Morgan, WV to MD1.0100$30,000
September 178:40 PM EDTF1Bedford, PA2.350
September 178:55 PM EDTF1Cumberland, PA2.050
September 179:05 PM EDTF1Juniata, PA1.075
September 179:10 PM EDTF1Juniata, PA4.5100

What this means

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.

Sources

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