EF0 tornado, Gold Hill, North Carolina, February 6, 2020

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

February 6, 2020

Touchdown

11:55 AM EST (16:55 UTC)

Lifted

11:57 AM EST (16:57 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.5 miles (2.4 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Rowan County

Touchdown point

35.509, -80.351

Lift-off point

35.507, -80.324

Record number

2002061055-01

36 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS GSP and NWS RAH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 125 mph.

• playground equipment tossed

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

Unusually high levels of moisture for early February combined with a slow-moving frontal system to produce an extended period of moderate to heavy rainfall across western North Carolina from the morning of the 5th until the early morning hours of the 7th. Intense rain rates associated with bands of heavy rain showers and embedded thunderstorms developing along the front during the morning and afternoon of the 7th resulted in rather widespread flash flooding. Isolated tornadoes also developed during this time across the Piedmont. Total rainfall of 3 to 6 inches resulted in flooding persisting along some main stem rivers and larger streams well into the 7th.

NWS storm survey found a weak tornado damage path that began near the intersection of Old Beatty Ford Rd and St Stephens Church Rd south of Gold Hill. A small barn was damaged at this location, which was the most significant damage along the track. Some some trees were snapped and uprooted here as well. The tornado snapped and uprooted trees as it moved east along and near Old Beatty Ford Rd before ending near Old Highway 80.

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

12 minutes of warning. NWS GSP issued a tornado warning for this county at 16:43 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 17:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 15:12 UTC and running to 19:11 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:10 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.

Albemarle (VUJ), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 168 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:52 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 2020 tornado in North CarolinaEvery tornado in North Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in North Carolina nowThe forecast where you are

14 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.