Tornadoes · United States · North Carolina · 2021

EF0 tornado, Poplar Branch, North Carolina, August 1, 2021

This EF0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Currituck County on August 1, 2021, touching down at 12:14 PM EDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
August 1, 2021
Touchdown
12:14 PM EDT (16:14 UTC)
Lifted
12:18 PM EDT (16:18 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Currituck County
Touchdown point
36.295, -75.809
Lift-off point
36.288, -75.806
Record number
2108011014-01

The damage survey

4 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS AKQ, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.

  • Handrail pulled off the deck
  • Damage to sea grass as well. Laying SW to NE

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

What the Weather Service recorded

Scattered severe thunderstorms along a frontal boundary produced damaging winds and one weak tornado across portions of northeast North Carolina.

A tornado touched down along the intersection of the Currituck Sound adjacent to the Currituck Club golf course. The tornado tracked south southeast along the 7th and 8th holes of the golf course and uprooted large trees and snapped numerous limbs. The tornado lifted shortly before crossing the intersection of Hunt Club Drive and Trumpeter Swan Court, but not before knocking down several large trees and ripping some shingles off of a house on Trumpeter Swan Court.

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

The warnings

60 minutes of warning. NWS AKQ issued a tornado warning for this county at 15:14 UTC, 60 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 16:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
14:27 UTC15:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAKQ
14:43 UTC15:30 UTCTornado WarningAKQ
15:07 UTC16:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAKQ
15:14 UTC16:15 UTCTornado WarningAKQ
16:09 UTC16:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAKQ
16:15 UTC19:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryAKQ
16:44 UTC19:45 UTCFlood AdvisoryAKQ
17:05 UTC17:28 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAKQ

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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:54 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.

Wallops Is Stn, VA (KWAL), 12:00Z

4.2 hours before the tornado, 186 km from the path. August 1, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Wallops Is Stn, VA at 12:00Z on 2021-08-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -79289, lifted condensation level 896 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Wallops Is Stn, VA at 12:00Z on 2021-08-01The 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 2 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-79289 J/kg
Surface CAPE
128 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
896 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
3 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
167 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Wallops Is Stn, VA (KWAL), 00:00Z

7.8 hours after it, 186 km from the path. August 2, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Wallops Is Stn, VA at 00:00Z on 2021-08-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 38 joules per kilogram, CIN -56, lifted condensation level 916 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, Wallops Is Stn, VA at 00:00Z on 2021-08-02The 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 44 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 46 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
38 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-56 J/kg
Surface CAPE
128 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
916 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
44 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
91 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 132 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:16 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
15:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nne SnowdenCurrituck, NCMULTIPLE POWER OUTAGES DUE TO STORM JUST NORTH OF THE INTERSECTION OF CARATOKE HWY AND BEECHWOOD SHORES DRIVE. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR DATA.
15:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 E Taylors BeachCamden, NCCORRECTS PREVIOUS TSTM WND DMG REPORT FROM 1 E TAYLORS BEACH. SEVERAL LARGE TREES UPROOTED AND LARGE LIMBS SNAPPED NEAR SHILOH.
15:55 UTCTSTM WND DMGWaterlilyCurrituck, NCTREE BLOCKING PART OF WATERLILLY ROAD. TIME ESTIMATED.
16:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Ene Poplar BranchCurrituck, NCDAMAGE REPORTED AT THE CURRITUCK CLUB.
16:19 UTCTSTM WND DMGCorollaCurrituck, NCSEVERAL TREES DOWN IN COROLLA NEAR A RESIDENCE. REPORT RELAYED BY NWS BINGHAMTON, NY.
16:25 UTCMARINE TSTM WIND 415 Ene GrandyCurrituck, NCMESONET STATION SPRIG POINT.
16:40 UTCMARINE TSTM WIND 455 Ene GrandyCurrituck, NCMESONET STATION PINE ISLAND BEACH.
17:07 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Se Powells PointCurrituck, NCOVER 50 POWER OUTAGES DUE TO STORM JUST TO THE NORTH OF POWELLS POINT. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
17:23 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nw Nags Head FishingDare, NCTREES LIMBS BLOWN DOWN. ESTIMATED WINDS 60 MPH.
17:25 UTCTSTM WND GST 681 Nw WhaleboneDare, NCPUBLIC PERSONAL WEATHER STATION GUSTED TO 68 MPH.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in North CarolinaEvery tornado in North Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in North Carolina nowThe forecast where you are

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.