Tornadoes · United States · North Carolina · 2024
EF0 tornado, Hillirdston, North Carolina, August 8, 2024
This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Nash County on August 8, 2024, touching down at 10:35 AM EDT and reaching 50 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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 8, 2024
- Touchdown
- 10:35 AM EDT (14:35 UTC)
- Lifted
- 10:36 AM EDT (14:36 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.2 miles (0.4 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $10,000
- County
- Nash County
- Touchdown point
- 36.100, -77.940
- Lift-off point
- 36.100, -77.940
- Record number
- 2408080835-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Tropical Depression Debby slowly made its way through Florida, off the South Carolina coast, then back inland through the western Piedmont of North Carolina during the evening hours of 8 August 2024. Ahead of the storm, numerous feeder bands brought periods of heavy rain to central North Carolina, resulting in widespread 4-6 inch rainfall amounts across the western Piedmont, with higher amounts to the east. In addition, numerous tornadoes occurred with this event, with one on 7 August and an additional 6 on 8 August including a rare EF-3 tropical cyclone tornado.
An EF-0 tornado, with wind speeds of 85 mph, briefly touched down in a field near the intersection of Cooper Rd and W Hilliardson Rd, near the Hilliardson community of Nash County. Several hardwood trees were uprooted. A tornado debris signature was noted|on radar at the time.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
3 minutes of warning. NWS RAH issued a tornado warning for this county at 14:32 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 15:00 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 06:49 UTC and running to 16:55 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06:49 UTC | 16:55 UTC | Tornado Watch | RAH |
| 06:51 UTC | 07:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | RAH |
| 07:09 UTC | 13:15 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | RAH |
| 07:12 UTC | 07:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | RAH |
| 10:55 UTC | 22:00 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | RAH |
| 11:11 UTC | 11:24 UTC | Tornado Warning | RAH |
| 11:48 UTC | 12:03 UTC | Tornado Warning | RAH |
| 11:53 UTC | 12:13 UTC | Tornado Warning | RAH |
| 11:58 UTC | 12:20 UTC | Tornado Warning | RAH |
| 12:11 UTC | 12:34 UTC | Tornado Warning | RAH |
| 14:32 UTC | 15:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | RAH |
| 16:15 UTC | 16:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | RAH |
| 16:55 UTC | 22:40 UTC | Tornado Watch | RAH |
| 20:00 UTC | 20:10 UTC | Tornado Warning | RAH |
| 20:12 UTC | 20:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | RAH |
| 21:03 UTC | 21:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | RAH |
| 21:59 UTC | 12:00 UTC | Flood Warning | RAH |
| 22:40 UTC | 07:52 UTC | Tornado Watch | RAH |
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 12:42 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
2.6 hours before the tornado, 175 km from the path. August 8, 2024.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 906 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -10 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1021 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 572 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 38 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 48 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 322 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 313 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.6
- Supercell composite
- 8.6
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.4 K/km
Newport, NC (KMHX), 00:00Z
9.4 hours after it, 175 km from the path. August 9, 2024.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1137 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -3 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3696 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 726 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 27 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 42 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 148 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 169 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.6
- Supercell composite
- 8.3
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.9 K/km
The radar
The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 69 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 14:38 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Fountain | Pitt, NC | Pitt County EM reports temporary lane closure on HWY 258 near Fountain. Time based on radar. |
| 12:00 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | 4 E Youngsville | Franklin, NC | Flooding just started on Moores Pond Road at Rock Church Road near Youngsville. |
| 12:10 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Youngsville | Franklin, NC | Numerous reports of flooding including Ransdell Road, N Cross and E Winston Streets, Long Mill Roads in Youngsville. |
| 12:11 UTC | TORNADO | 5 E Louisburg | Franklin, NC | Damage to trees and homes near White Level Road and Hickory Rock Road caused by tornado. |
| 12:15 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | 2 Ese Purnell | Wake, NC | Intersection of Purnell Road and Jackson Road flooded due to Horse Creek flowing out of its bank. |
| 13:06 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | 2 Sw Franklinton | Franklin, NC | Several roads flooded in the area with one lane of U.S. 1 flooded. |
| 14:25 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | 2 Wnw Purnell | Wake, NC | Several reports of flooded creeks and streams along with flooded roads. Flooding on Mangum Dairy Road and Pleasant Forest Road. |
| 14:35 UTC | TORNADO | 3 S Aventon | Nash, NC | An EF-0 tornado, with wind speeds of 85 mph, briefly touched down in a field near the intersection of Cooper Rd and W Hilliardson Rd, near the Hilliardston community of Nash County. Several hardwood trees were uprooted. |
| 17:30 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | 3 Ne Rolesville | Wake, NC | Many streams and creeks continue to flood and several roads remain flooded in northern Wake county. Water was across NC 98 between NC 96 and Moores Pond Road. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
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
The other tornadoes of August 8, 2024
11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 8 | 2:08 AM EDT | EF2 | Greene, NC | 9.5 | 400 | |||
| August 8 | 2:45 AM EDT | EF3 | Wilson, NC | 6.5 | 200 | 1 | $2.0 million | |
| August 8 | 8:07 AM EDT | EF1 | Franklin, NC | 2.9 | 125 | $25,000 | ||
| August 8 | 3:29 PM EDT | EF0 | Franklin, NC | 1.0 | 75 | $15,000 | ||
| August 8 | 5:04 PM EDT | EF0 | Edgecombe, NC | 0.2 | 50 | $5,000 | ||
| August 8 | 6:54 PM EDT | EF1 | Caroline, VA | 1.7 | 700 | $200,000 | ||
| August 8 | 7:00 PM EDT | EF1 | Vance, NC | 1.6 | 100 | $120,000 | ||
| August 8 | 7:11 PM EDT | EF1 | New Castle, DE | 1.1 | 150 | |||
| August 8 | 7:49 PM EDT | EF1 | Stafford, VA | 6.9 | 150 | $250,000 | ||
| August 8 | 9:19 PM EDT | EF1 | Clarke, VA | 4.8 | 100 | $275,000 | ||
| August 8 | 11:50 PM EDT | EF0 | Berkeley, WV | 0.5 | 150 | $50,000 |
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.