EF2 tornado, Columbia, North Carolina, August 26, 2011

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   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 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.

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.

Rating

EF2

Date

August 26, 2011

Touchdown

11:55 PM EDT (03:55 UTC)

Lifted

11:59 PM EDT (03:59 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$150,000

County

Tyrrell County

Touchdown point

35.919, -76.223

Lift-off point

35.920, -76.215

Record number

1108262155-01

Hurricane Irene made landfall during the morning of the 27th, near Cape Lookout, as a large category 1 hurricane on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Due to the large size of the hurricane, strong damaging winds, major storm surge, and flooding rains were experienced across much of eastern North Carolina. Several destructive tornados occurred during the evening of the 26th associated with the hurricane. Millions of dollars in damages were reported across the area. Property and crop damages were estimated to be 381 million dollars. Storm surge damages were estimated at 240 million dollars. The lowest pressure, 950.6 millibars, was recorded in Duck at 2112 UTC on the 27th. The highest official sustained wind measured was 63 knots or 73 mph at Cedar Island at 1050 UTC on the 27th. The highest wind gust of 100 knots was recorded at the Cedar Island Ferry at 1150 UTC on the 27th. The highest storm surges of 8-11 feet occurred along the Pamlico Sound, and the lower reaches of the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers on the 27th. Storm total rainfall ranged from 5.2 to 15.74 inches across area with the heaviest rainfall across Pamlico, Beaufort, and Craven counties. Two direct fatalities occurred in Pitt County. One fatality was due to a fallen tree on a house, and a second fatality resulted when a man drove into a tree. There were two indirect fatalities as well. In Beaufort Co. a woman with a pre-existing medical condition had an emergency as the hurricane began and emergency personnel were unable to reach her for two hours due to downed trees and flooding. She passed away the following day. In Onslow County, a man died from a heart attack while boarding up prior to the hurricane.

Several manufactured homes were completely destroyed with the metal undercarriages severely mangled and twisted around tree trunks indicating a high end EF2 tornado with estimated winds of 130 mph.

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

12 minutes of warning. NWS MHX issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:43 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:15 UTC and running to 04:34 UTC.

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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:30 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.

Edenton_northea (EDE), 34 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:54 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in North CarolinaEvery tornado in North Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in North Carolina nowThe forecast where you are

3 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.