Tornadoes · United States · North Carolina · 2017

EF1 tornado, Whitehurst, North Carolina, June 5, 2017

This EF1 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Pitt County on June 5, 2017, touching down at 7:25 PM EDT and reaching 100 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 mph

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

    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
EF1
Date
June 5, 2017
Touchdown
7:25 PM EDT (23:25 UTC)
Lifted
7:26 PM EDT (23:26 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.3 miles (0.5 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Pitt County
Touchdown point
35.766, -77.330
Lift-off point
35.770, -77.330
Record number
1706051725-01

What the Weather Service recorded

An EF1 tornado touched down near the intersection of Whitehurst Station Road and Highway 30, where it produced significant damage to one older building and uprooted and snapped hardwood trees. The tornado crossed Highway 30 and caused significant damage to a wood shop storage building and knocked down powerlines, while debris caused damage to two residential homes. The tornado moved across a crop field where it lifted multiple times before moving into field of trees where additional trees were knocked down and blocked the train tracks.

An EF1 tornado touched down near the intersection of Whitehurst Station Road and Highway 30, where it produced significant damage to one older building and uprooted and snapped hardwood trees. The tornado crossed Highway 30 and caused significant damage to a wood shop storage building and knocked down powerlines, while debris caused damage to two residential homes. The tornado moved across a crop field where it lifted multiple times before moving into field of trees where additional trees were knocked down and blocked the train tracks.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:40 UTC23:59 UTCTornado WarningMHX
00:24 UTC02:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryMHX

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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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

11.4 hours before the tornado, 117 km from the path. June 5, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 2017-06-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1198 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 640 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 2017-06-05The 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 73 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 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
1198 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2671 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
640 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
73 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
108 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
3.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Newport, NC (KMHX), 00:00Z

0.6 hours after it, 117 km from the path. June 6, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Newport, NC at 00:00Z on 2017-06-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1233 joules per kilogram, CIN -7, lifted condensation level 615 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 2017-06-06The 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 103 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 25 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
1233 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2751 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
615 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
103 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
126 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
3.9
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Pitt-Greenville_aprt (PGV), 16 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:30 UTC73.473.4220° 6 kt1006.8RA
21:50 UTC7775.2200° 7 kt1006.1
22:10 UTC7777210° 4 kt1005.8
22:30 UTC7777230° 3 kt1005.8
22:50 UTC7777220° 5 kt1005.8
23:10 UTC7777210° 6 kt1005.4
23:30 UTC7777210° 7 kt1005.4
23:50 UTC7777220° 5 kt1005.4BR
00:10 UTC7777330° 5 kt1005.8
00:30 UTC73.473.4350° 9 kt1005.8
00:50 UTC71.671.6330° 4 kt151006.4
01:10 UTC71.671.6310° 6 kt141006.8+RA

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

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:21 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
20:53 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 W WoodardBertie, NCDAMAGE TO ROOFS OF 3 HOMES FROM A THUNDERSTORM WIND GUST. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
21:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ssw DortchesNash, NCTREE FELL ON A MOBILE HOME IN THE BROOK VALLEY MOBILE HOME PARK OFF SUNSET AVE. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR.
22:15 UTCFLASH FLOOD1 Ssw DortchesNash, NCREPORTS OF WATER ON THE ROAD AT GREEN HILLS RD AND HIGHWAY 43 BEFORE THOMAS BETTS PARKWAY.
22:30 UTCFLASH FLOOD1 S DortchesNash, NCWATER IS FLOWING OVER THE ROAD AT GREEN HILLS RD, HIGHWAY 43 BEFORE THOMAS BETTS PARKWAY, AND THARRINGTON ROAD. WATER HIGH ENOUGH THAT ROADS APPEARED IMPASSABLE.
23:25 UTCTORNADO4 Sse BethelPitt, NC911 CENTER RELAYED PUBLIC REPORT OF TORNADO NEAR HIGHTWAY 30 AND STATON MILL ROAD. SUBSEQUENT REPORT OF SEVERAL HOMES DAMAGED BUT NO INJURIES. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
23:25 UTCTORNADO4 Sse BethelPitt, NC911 CENTER RELAYED PUBLIC REPORT OF TORNADO ON GROUND NEAR HIGHWAY 30 BETWEEN BETHEL AND STOKES. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
23:25 UTCTORNADO4 Sse BethelPitt, NC1 OLDER BUILDING WITH MODERATE DAMAGE AND 2 BUILDINGS WITH MINOR DAMAGE. POWERLINES DOWN ON TRAIN TRACKS. NEAR INTERSECTION OF WHITEHURST STATION ROAD AND HIGHWAY 30. TIME ESTIMATED BASED ON RADAR.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2017 tornado in North CarolinaEvery tornado in North Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in North Carolina nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 5, 2017

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 52:32 PM MDTEF0Arapahoe, CO0.025
June 57:07 PM EDTEF0Broward, FL0.110

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.