Tornadoes · United States · North Carolina · 2008

EF0 tornado, Panzer, North Carolina, April 28, 2008

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Hyde County on April 28, 2008, touching down at 5:40 PM EDT and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

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

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

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

  3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

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

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

  6. EF5over 200 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
EF0
Date
April 28, 2008
Touchdown
5:40 PM EDT (21:40 UTC)
Lifted
5:41 PM EDT (21:41 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.1 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Hyde County
Touchdown point
35.560, -76.430
Lift-off point
35.560, -76.429
Record number
0804281540-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong cold front moved across eastern north during the evening hours of April 28 2008. Ahead of the front scattered thunderstorms developed during the afternoon with two tornadoes occurring.

Waterspout over Pungo River moved onshore in western Hyde county north of Scranton.

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

The warnings

19 minutes of warning. NWS MHX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:21 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:05 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:18 UTC and running to 00:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:18 UTC00:00 UTCTornado WatchMHX
21:21 UTC22:05 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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:33 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 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), 12:00Z

9.7 hours before the tornado, 96 km from the path. April 28, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 2008-04-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 120 joules per kilogram, CIN -8, lifted condensation level 835 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, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 2008-04-28The 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 90 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 36 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
120 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-8 J/kg
Surface CAPE
369 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
835 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
90 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
113 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Newport, NC (KMHX), 00:00Z

2.3 hours after it, 96 km from the path. April 29, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Newport, NC at 00:00Z on 2008-04-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 244 joules per kilogram, CIN -21, lifted condensation level 814 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 2008-04-29The 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 171 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 48 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
244 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-21 J/kg
Surface CAPE
965 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
814 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
171 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
195 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
3.3
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Edenton_northea (EDE), 53 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:40 UTC69.864.4190° 15 kt211008.5-DZ
20:00 UTC69.864.4190° 15 kt201008.1-DZ
20:20 UTC69.864.4190° 16 kt221007.8
20:42 UTC69.864.4200° 17 kt211008.1
21:02 UTC69.864.4200° 13 kt211007.8RA
21:20 UTC69.864.4210° 14 kt171007.8-DZ
21:40 UTC69.864.4210° 10 kt161007.8
22:04 UTC69.864.4200° 11 kt1007.8
22:22 UTC69.864.4190° 11 kt1007.5
22:40 UTC69.864.4190° 11 kt1007.1
23:00 UTC69.864.4200° 9 kt1007.1
23:20 UTC69.864.4210° 12 kt171007.5

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

The radar

The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 96 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:41 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
21:24 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD9 E BelhavenHyde, NCBETWEEN LEECHVILLE AND SLADESVILLE
21:25 UTCTORNADO5 Ene BelhavenBeaufort, NCWITNESSED BETWEEN BELHAVEN AND LEECHVILLE. NO DAMAGE REPORTED.
21:36 UTCWATER SPOUT5 N ScrantonHyde, NCWATERSPOUT SEEN OVER THE PUNGO RIVER BETWEEN BEAUFORT AND HYDE COUNTY. WITNESSES WERE ON THE INTERCOASTAL WATERWAY BRIDGE IN HYDE COUNTY.
21:40 UTCTORNADO6 N ScrantonHyde, NCWITNESS FROM SLADESVILLE SAW WATERSPOUT CROSS RIVER INTO FAR WESTERN HYDE COUNTY NORTH OF SCRANTON. NO DAMAGE REPORTED.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in North CarolinaEvery tornado in North Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in North Carolina nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 28, 2008

15 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 289:30 AM EDTEF0Cleveland, NC0.140$20,000
April 281:06 PM EDTEF0Taylor, FL0.330$75,000
April 281:10 PM EDTEF1Halifax, VA0.9240$500,000
April 282:25 PM EDTEF0Suwannee, FL0.150
April 282:48 PM EDTEF1Brunswick, VA16.0250$705,000
April 283:40 PM EDTEF1City of Colonial Heights, VA1.08021$2.0 million
April 283:50 PM EDTEF1Greensville, VA2.050$15,000
April 284:05 PM EDTEF3City of Suffolk, VA24.0400200$30 million
April 284:10 PM EDTEF0Southampton, VA0.330$5,000
April 284:18 PM EDTEF1Surry, VA0.330$74,000
April 284:35 PM EDTEF0James City, VA0.550$200,000
April 284:40 PM EDTEF1Isle of Wight, VA3.050$184,000
April 284:45 PM EDTEF1Mathews, VA0.350$50,000
April 284:55 PM EDTEF0Gloucester, VA11.050$20,000
April 285:25 PM EDTEF0Beaufort, NC0.220

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.