EF1 tornado, Varina, North Carolina, August 3, 2024

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.

Rating

EF1

Date

August 3, 2024

Touchdown

5:28 PM EDT (21:28 UTC)

Lifted

5:31 PM EDT (21:31 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.5 miles (2.4 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$120,000

County

Wake County

Touchdown point

35.595, -78.817

Lift-off point

35.599, -78.792

Record number

2408031528-01

14 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS RAH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

• Building did not appear to be strapped or anchored to the ground/foundation, only sitting on wooden support beams. Blown to the southeast
• Roof removed from dugout, blown to the southeast
• Roof lifted off dugout, blown to the northeast
• Video showing circulation developing in a field. No DI's present in video.

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

A stalled front over the lower Ohio and eastern Tennessee valleys moved into western North Carolina. Showers and thunderstorms initially developed over the Piedmont of North Carolina, congealing into a line of severe storms that produced numerous downed trees and power lines. Flash flooding also occurred in the urban area of Raleigh, Durham, and in Franklin County. An EF1 Tornado also developed in southern Wake County.

A discontinuous path of storm damage was surveyed in Fuquay-Varina. The tornado���s initial touchdown occurred in a field south of the intersection of Wilbon Rd and Judd Parkway and was observed on video lofting debris in the air but not producing any damage. The tornado proceeded eastward to Burton Pines Way where several large tree canopies were snapped and/or trees were uprooted. Additional small tree limbs were broken on Bridge St, Crestfield Dr and Alderleaf Dr. The circulation then crossed an open field, resulting in roof damage and the loss of an awning and outdoor electrical equipment at a church which was also observed on video. The tornado lifted before crossing NC 55, but descended just east of the Fuquay-Varina High School building. Two baseball dugouts had their roofs torn off with the debris scattered in opposite |directions. In addition, a small building adjacent to the baseball field was blown off its foundation and overturned. The total path length from the initial touchdown point to the baseball field was approximately 1.5 miles. ||To the east of the baseball field, additional small tree limbs and branches were downed along Ransdell Rd, but appeared to be associated with straight line winds. While numerous large trees were uprooted north of the intersection of Sunset Lake Rd and |Products Rd, the damage at that location appeared to be associated with straight line winds and not a tornado.

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 18:11 UTC and running to 00:16 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. The outlook in force was issued at 19:51 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.

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 29 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:30 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 2024 tornado in North CarolinaEvery tornado in North Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in North Carolina nowThe forecast where you are

1 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.