Tornadoes · United States · North Carolina · 2006

F1 tornado, Greene County, North Carolina, January 14, 2006

This F1 tornado ran 1.5 miles across Greene County on January 14, 2006, touching down at 1:48 AM EST and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $750,000 of property damage.

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 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.

The record

Rating
F1
Date
January 14, 2006
Touchdown
1:48 AM EST (06:48 UTC)
Path length
1.5 miles (2.4 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$750,000
County
Greene County
Touchdown point
35.430, -77.650
Lift-off point
35.430, -77.650
Record number
39

The warnings

14 minutes of warning. NWS MHX issued a tornado warning for this county at 06:34 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:52 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 05:27 UTC and running to 07:18 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
05:27 UTC07:18 UTCTornado WatchMHX
06:21 UTC06:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMHX
06:34 UTC06:52 UTCTornado WarningMHX

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 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.

Newport, NC (KMHX), 00:00Z

6.8 hours before the tornado, 101 km from the path. January 14, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Newport, NC at 00:00Z on 2006-01-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 367 joules per kilogram, CIN -15, lifted condensation level 748 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Newport, NC at 00:00Z on 2006-01-14The 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 164 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 40 knots.193958Sfc1 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
367 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Surface CAPE
155 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
748 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
164 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
219 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
2.6
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Newport, NC (KMHX), 12:00Z

5.2 hours after it, 101 km from the path. January 14, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 2006-01-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -93423, lifted condensation level 643 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 2006-01-14The 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 -60 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 81 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-93423 J/kg
Surface CAPE
19 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
643 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
81 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-60 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
10 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:48 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
06:15 UTCHAIL 0.88Mount OliveWayne, NCNICKEL SIZED HAIL REPORT RELAYED BY COUNTY 911 COMMUNICATIONS CENTER.
06:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGLa GrangeLenoir, NCLARGE TREE DOWN JUST WEST OF LA GRANGE
06:50 UTCTORNADOSnow HillGreene, NCDAMAGE TO 7 STRUCTURES IN THE SHADY GROVE CHURCH AREA. UNABLE TO DETERMINE EXTENT OF DAMAGE AT THIS TIME.
06:50 UTCTORNADOSnow HillGreene, NCPOSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR SNOW HILL...TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN.
06:55 UTCTSTM WND GST 60GreenvillePitt, NCSPOTTER NEAR GREEVILLE REPORTED WIND GUST 60 MPH.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in North CarolinaEvery tornado in North Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in North Carolina nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of January 14, 2006

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 141:39 AM ESTF1Greene, NC0.775$250,000
January 142:15 AM ESTF0King and Queen, VA0.350$10,000
January 143:12 AM ESTF1Perquimans, NC0.350$30,000
January 142:25 PM PSTF0Mariposa, CA0.125

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.