EF0 tornado, Manteo, North Carolina, May 11, 2015

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

May 11, 2015

Touchdown

5:10 PM EDT (21:10 UTC)

Lifted

5:11 PM EDT (21:11 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$5,000

County

Dare County

Touchdown point

35.892, -75.675

Lift-off point

35.898, -75.670

Record number

1505111510-01

Tropical Storm Ana made landfall over the far northern coast of South Carolina during the early morning of Sunday May 10th. Ana then moved slowly north weakening to Tropical Depression during the afternoon of May 10th. Ana continued to gradually weaken while lifting north inland from the North Carolina Coast later on May 10th, and then moved north of region on May 11th. In her wake a waterspout developed in the Croatan Sound which came onshore briefly on Roanoke Island as a weak EF0 tornado with winds estimated at 80 mph. Gusty winds up to tropical storm force, and heavy rain accompanied Ana with rainfall totals of 3 to 7 inches. Rainfall amounts of 5 to 7 inches across portions the coastal plains of eastern NC resulted in flooding. A neighborhood along the Lenoir/Jones County border was impacted by flooding adjacent to Southwest Creek. Across Eastern NC the minimum official pressure of 1014.2 millibars or 29.95 inches/mercury was measured on 08/0800 UTC at the Beaufort tide gauge, BFTN7. Highest official winds were also registered at the Beaufort tide gauge, BFTN7, where maximum sustained winds of 28 knots or 32 mph were recorded at 11/0400 UTC. A peak wind gust of 36 knots or 41 mph was recorded at Piney Island Bombing Range, KNBT in down-east Carteret County on 10/1408 UTC. Damages were minimal across the area, and there were no injuries or fatalities.

A waterspout developed over the Croatan Sound and lifted northeast moving onshore over parts of Roanoke Island as a weak EF0 tornado producing minor damage. Winds were estimated at 80 mph with a few small trees blown down. One house on Vista Lake Drive had a portion of the roof partially removed. There were no injuries or fatalities. This water spout/weak tornado developed along a band of showers occurring on the backside of the remnants of Tropical Storm Ana.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:57 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.

Manteo/Dare_co_rgnl (MQI), 3 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 166 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:11 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 2015 tornado in North CarolinaEvery tornado in North Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in North Carolina nowThe forecast where you are

2 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.