Tornadoes · United States · North Carolina · 2008
EF2 tornado, Gastonia to Clt Brockenbrough Ar, North Carolina, May 9, 2008
From Gastonia to Clt Brockenbrough Ar, this EF2 tornado ran 18.2 miles across Gaston and Mecklenburg counties on May 9, 2008, touching down at 2:10 AM EDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $7.0 million of property damage.
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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- EF2
- Date
- May 9, 2008
- Touchdown
- 2:10 AM EDT (06:10 UTC)
- Lifted
- 2:36 AM EDT (06:36 UTC)
- On the ground
- 26 minutes
- Path length
- 18.2 miles (29.3 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $7.0 million
- Counties
- Gaston and Mecklenburg counties
- Touchdown point
- 35.254, -81.177
- Lift-off point
- 35.320, -80.865
- Record number
- 0805090010-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A mini-supercell thunderstorms produced a tornado with a nearly 20 mile path through the Gastonia and Charlotte metro areas during the early morning hours of May 9th.
A tornado track began just southeast of Gastonia and continued well into Mecklenburg County on the northwest side of Charlotte. Where the tornado first touched down, part of the roof was blown off the roof of an office building near the intersection of Union Rd and Garrison Bvd. The tornado continued east-northeast to the Garrison Blvd, S New Hope Rd area, where numerous homes and businesses received minor to moderate roof damage and numerous large trees were uprooted. The tornado produced sporadic, mainly minor damage as it moved through McAdenville, where it crossed I-85, blowing several cars off the interstate. The most significant damage was observed in the Catawba Heights/ Belmont area, near I-85, where much of the metal roof was peeled from a large wharehouse, causing 7 million dollars in damage. Another industrial business in this area lost most of its roof.
A tornado began on the south side of Gastonia in Gaston County. It produced damage to several structures in extreme eastern Gaston County before moving into Mecklenburg County, where the track become more intermittent. The public reporting several large trees blown down in the area around Woodlyn Dr in Northwest Charlotte. The path ended in the Beatties Ford Rd area north of Charlotte, where an outbuilding was lifted and blown 20 to 30 feet and 2 large dumpsters were overturned.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 9, 1:27 AM EDT, 43 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 9, 1:27 AM EDT, 43 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 127 AM EDT FRI MAY 9 2008 .SYNOPSIS... A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE REGION TONIGHT AND THEN STALL OUT ON FRIDAY. WEAK HIGH PRESSURE WILL TEMPORARILY PUSH THIS FRONT SOUTH OF THE AREA ON SATURDAY BEFORE RETURNING NORTH AS A WARM FRONT ON SUNDAY. DRY NORTHWEST FLOW WILL THEN FOLLOW FOR EARLY NEXT WEEK. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TODAY/... SHOWERS WITH SCT TSTMS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST ACROSS THE FOOTHILLS AND PIEDMONT THROUGH THE EARLY MORNING HOURS...BEFORE WINDS VEERING WESTERLY ADVECT IN DRIER AIR AND DIMINISH ACTIVITY IN DOWNSLOPE FLOW. MOIST LOW LEVELS AND CONTINUED CLOUD COVER WILL KEEP MINS TO THE WARMER SIDE OF MOS. THE DEEPER MOISTURE BAND SHOULD CLEAR THE AREA BY 12Z FRI ALONG WITH ANY RESIDUAL PRECIP. DOWNSLOPE FLOW SHOULD QUICKLY SCOUR CLOUDS WITH CLEARING CONDITIONS BY MID MORNING FRI. && .SHORT TERM /TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT/... AS OF 320 PM THURSDAY...BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON THE COLD FRONT SHOULD BECOME STATIONARY NEAR THE NC/SC STATE LINE. I EXPECT THAT THE FRONTAL PRECIPITATION WOULD PUSH EAST OF THE CWA BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON. HOWEVER...A FEW LINGERING CONVECTIVE SHRA/TSRA MAY REMAIN NEAR THE TN LINE. MILD LLVL THICKNESSES AND INCREASING INSOLATION SHOULD TEMPERATURES IN THE MID 70S IN THE MTNS AND L80S EAST. FRIDAY NIGHT...A DECENT S/W WILL RIPPLE ACROSS KY/TN WITH THE SFC REFLECTION MOVING OVER THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS. LINGERING INSTABILITY AND MARGINAL SYNOPTIC LIFT MAY SUPPORT SCT SHRA/TSRA DURING THE PRE-DAWN HOURS. AFTER SUNRISE SAT...DRY HIGH PRESSURE WILL NOSE SOUTHWARD ACROSS THE CWA. INSTABILITY SHOULD BECOME INCREASINGLY LIMITED ACROSS NC THROUGH THE MORNING...PUSHING INSTABILITY FURTHER SOUTH ACROSS SC DURING THE AFTERNOON. SATURDAY NIGHT...THE CENTER OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL SHIFT OVER THE ATLANTIC AS ANOTHER LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM ORGANIZES ACROSS THE MID WEST. HIGH PRESSURE SHOULD CONTINUE TO NOSE ACROSS THE CWA THROUGH THE DAY. HOWEVER...A WARM FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH THE LOW IS FORECAST TO ROTATE NORTH ACROSS THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS SUN MORNING AND AFTERNOON. THE WARM FRONT WILL STRUGGLE TO OVERCOME A WEAK IN-SITU AREA CAD...KEEPING TEMPS ACROSS THE NC FOOTHILLS AND PIEDMONT LIMITED TO AROUND 70. HOWEVER...THE UPPER SAVANNAH RIVER VALLEY AND THE EASTERN UPSTATE MAY EMERGE OUT OF THE CAD DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON. ALLOWING CAPE TO BUILD TO 1000 J/KG ALONG WITH VEERING LLVL WIND FIELDS. ALONG AND EAST OF THE WEDGE BOUNDARY COULD SEE A FEW STRONG TO SEVERE TSRA DURING THE AFTERNOON. A SIGNIFICANT COLD FRONT SHOULD SWEEP ACROSS THE REGION DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. IT IS UNCERTAIN THAT ENOUGH INSTABILITY WILL REMAIN AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT TO SUPPORT A LINEAR MCS. IT DOES APPEAR THAT THE TN BORDER AREAS WILL SEE THE STRONGEST CONVECTION AS THE STORMS WILL ORIGINATE FROM THE WARM SECTOR ACROSS TN. SUN AFTERNOON AND EVENING IS OUTLOOKED FOR POSSIBLE SEVERE TS IN SPCS DY4. SUNDAY NIGHT...WIND FIELDS FROM THE SFC TO 1 KM WILL STRENGTHEN SIGNIFICANTLY IN THE WAKE OF THE FRONT. IN FACT...H8 WINDS BRIEFLY REACH 50-60 KTS ON THE GFS LATE SUNDAY NIGHT. I WILL INCREASE WINDS ACROSS THE CWA AND INDICATE GUSTS RANGING FROM 25-30 KTS ACROSS THE MTNS. IN ADDITION...STRONG CAA COULD BRING H85 TEMPS ACROSS THE TN LINE TO 0C BY 12Z MON. USING A BLEND OF NATIONAL GUIDANCE AND GMOS I WILL PAINT THE MTNS WITH TEMPS MAINLY IN THE 40S. && .LONG TERM /MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... AS OF 315 PM THURSDAY...OVERALL THE 12Z GFS AND THE 00Z ECMWF AGREE ON THE GENERAL PICTURE MON THROUGH THURS. MON MORNING BEGINS WITH CLOSED UPPER LOW OVER THE MID ATLANTIC...WHICH MAKES LITTLE EASTWARD PROGRESS THROUGHOUT THE DAY. MON SHOULD BE RELATIVELY DRY AND BREEZY WITH GOOD PRESSURE GRADIENT IN PLACE ACROSS THE FA. WILL CARRY SOME CHC POPS MAINLY ACROSS THE EAST TO ACCOUNT FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF LINGERING SHOWERS. HEIGHTS RISE TUES AS UPPER RIDGE OVER THE MIDWEST BEGINS TO NOSE IN AND THE UPPER LOW GRADUALLY MOVES OFF THE EAST COAST. TEMPS WARM 7 TO 8 DEGREES IN RESPONSE TO THE INCOMING RIDGE. CONTINUED DRY TUES NIGHT THROUGH EARLY WED AS UPPER RIDGE CONTINUES TO TRANSLATE ACROSS THE EASTERN CONUS. NEXT SYSTEM BEGINS TAKING SHAPE EARLY WED AS UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE AND SURFACE LOW MOVE OUT OF THE PLAINS. THE GFS AND THE ECMWF DIFFER A BIT WITH THE HANDLING OF THIS SYSTEM BUT BOTH SHOW THE DEVELOPMENT OF A RATHER STRONG COLD FRONT POISED TO CROSS THE FA LATE WED. PERFECT PROG OF MODEL FIELDS ALSO SHOWS THE POTENTIAL FOR A SEVERE WEATHER EVENT WED AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE GFS SHOWS 1000-1500 J/KG OF CAPE AND DEEP LAYER SHEAR IN EXCESS OF 60 KTS AS THE FRONT CROSSES THE AREA. COOLER AIR MOVES IN FOR THE LATTER PART OF THE WEEK AS BOTH MODELS CARVE OUT A RATHER LARGE EAST COAST TROUGH. FOR NOW WILL ONLY CARRY CHC POPS WED THROUGH THUR TO ACCOUNT FOR SOME UNCERTAINTY AT THE BACK END OF THE FORECAST PERIOD. && .AVIATION /06Z FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE HAS DIMINISHED AS UPPER FORCING MOVES NORTHEAST OF THE AREA BUT ADDITIONAL LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE WILL BRING SHOWERS FROM THE SOUTHWEST. A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ARE STILL POSSIBLE FOR THE EARLY MORNING HOURS. MODEL GUIDANCE HAS BACKED OFF ON EXTENT OF MVFR CIGS THAT COULD DEVELOP LATE TONIGHT SO JUST WENT SCT MVFR LAYER ATTM. AN INCREASING WESTERLY DOWNSLOPE FLOW WILL ALLOW CLEARING OF RESIDUAL LOW CLOUDS AFTER DAYBREAK...WITH GUSTY WEST WINDS DEVELOPING THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. OUTLOOK...VFR CONDITIONS THROUGH SAT WITH SOME MVFR CLOUDS POSSIBLY DEVELOPING LATE SAT NIGHT. ANOTHER ROUND OF SCT SHWRS/TSTMS AND CIG/VSBY RESTRICTIONS EXPECTED SUN-SUN NIGHT. DRY WEATHER AND VFR CONDITIONS EXPECTED TO RETURN MON-TUE. && .GSP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... GA...NONE. NC...NONE. SC...NONE. && SYNOPSIS...BSH NEAR TERM...HG/RB SHORT TERM...NED LONG TERM...BSH AVIATION...RB
Hazardous weather outlook, May 8, 11:44 PM EDT, 2 hours 26 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 1144 PM EDT THU MAY 8 2008 GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033-035>037-048>053-056>059-062>065- 068>072-082-501>510-SCZ001>014-019-100345- RABUN-HABERSHAM-STEPHENS-FRANKLIN-HART-ELBERT-AVERY-ALEXANDER- IREDELL-DAVIE-MADISON-YANCEY-MITCHELL-SWAIN-HAYWOOD-BUNCOMBE-CATAWBA- ROWAN-GRAHAM-NORTHERN JACKSON-MACON-SOUTHERN JACKSON-TRANSYLVANIA- HENDERSON-CLEVELAND-LINCOLN-GASTON-MECKLENBURG-CABARRUS-UNION NC- CALDWELL MOUNTAINS-GREATER CALDWELL-BURKE MOUNTAINS-GREATER BURKE- MCDOWELL MOUNTAINS-EASTERN MCDOWELL-RUTHERFORD MOUNTAINS- GREATER RUTHERFORD-POLK MOUNTAINS-EASTERN POLK-OCONEE MOUNTAINS- PICKENS MOUNTAINS-GREENVILLE MOUNTAINS-GREATER OCONEE- GREATER PICKENS-GREATER GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG-CHEROKEE-YORK- ANDERSON-ABBEVILLE-LAURENS-UNION SC-CHESTER-GREENWOOD- 1144 PM EDT THU MAY 8 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST GEORGIA...PIEDMONT NORTH CAROLINA...WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA AND UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS EMBEDDED IN A LARGER AREA OF RAIN SHOWERS WILL CROSS THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA THROUGH THE EARLY MORNING HOURS. A FEW CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING STRIKES WILL BE THE MAIN THREAT WITH ANY THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL CROSS THE REGION SUNDAY EVENING...BRINGING ANOTHER CHANCE OF SEVERE WEATHER TO MUCH OF THE REGION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
In the hours before
Local storm report, May 8, 8:50 PM EDT, 5 hours 20 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
850 PM EDT THU MAY 08 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0810 PM FUNNEL CLOUD GRANITE FALLS 35.80N 81.43W
05/08/2008 CALDWELL NC PUBLIC
PUBLIC REPORT OF A FUNNEL CLOUD OBSERVED FOR A FEW
MINUTES AT GRANITE FALLS.
&&
DEOLocal storm report, May 8, 9:38 PM EDT, 4 hours 32 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
938 PM EDT THU MAY 08 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0925 PM TSTM WND DMG UNION GROVE 36.02N 80.86W
05/08/2008 IREDELL NC TRAINED SPOTTER
A TRAINED SPOTTER MONITORING EMERGENCY TRAFFIC REPORTED A
TREE ON A CAR ON MITCH ROAD NEAR UNION GROVE IN NORTHERN
IREDELL COUNTY. THERE WAS A PERSON INSIDE THE VEHICLE WHO
WAS REPORTED TO BE UNINJURED.
&&
DEOLocal storm report, May 8, 10:40 PM EDT, 3 hours 30 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1040 PM EDT THU MAY 08 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1022 PM TORNADO ADVANCE 35.93N 80.41W
05/08/2008 DAVIE NC TRAINED SPOTTER
A TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED DAMAGE TO A HOUSE ON UNDERPASS
ROAD AND DEBRIS IN THE ROADWAY.
&&
DEOLocal storm report, May 8, 10:46 PM EDT, 3 hours 24 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1046 PM EDT THU MAY 08 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0926 PM TSTM WND DMG UNION GROVE 36.02N 80.86W
05/08/2008 IREDELL NC COUNTY OFFICIAL
TREES DOWN NEAR MITCH ROAD
&&
KRENTZLocal storm report, May 9, 12:28 AM EDT, 1 hour 42 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1228 AM EDT FRI MAY 09 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1022 PM TORNADO 2 N ADVANCE 35.96N 80.41W
05/08/2008 DAVIE NC TRAINED SPOTTER
*** 1 INJ *** FOUR HOUSES DAMAGED...ONE COLLAPSED.
TRAILER WITH TREES THROUGH IT. OTHER HOUSES WITH TREES ON
THEM. NUMEROUS TREES DOWN.
&&
KRENTZThe 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), 00:00Z
6.2 hours before the tornado, 134 km from the path. May 9, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1104 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -8 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1325 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 995 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 48 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 184 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 331 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.5
- Supercell composite
- 6.7
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.8 K/km
Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), 12:00Z
5.8 hours after it, 134 km from the path. May 9, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 33 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -42 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 118 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 575 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 37 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 18 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 60 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 84 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.4
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.4 K/km
The surface observations
Charlotte / Douglas (CLT), 9 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Greer radar (KGSP), 118 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:10 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 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 May 9, 2008
3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.