EF1 tornado, Onslow County, North Carolina, September 5, 2026

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, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

September 5, 2026

Touchdown

6:37 PM EDT (22:37 UTC)

Lifted

6:42 PM EDT (22:42 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

0.9 miles (1.5 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Onslow County

Touchdown point

34.530, -77.447

Lift-off point

34.520, -77.436

Highest wind the damage implies

110 mph

Surveyed by

NWS MHX

The office's name for it

Sneads Ferry Tornado 1

Survey last edited

September 7, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

Based on eyewitness videos, a tornado likely touched down in the marshland are north of Old Folkstone Road. The tornado then moved southeast along the edge of a subdivision where tree and roof damage were noted. Most wooden fences along the path of the tornado were damaged or blown down. The tornado then moved through an apartment complex where the worst damage was noted. Here, portions of roof decking of one of the units were uplifted in the opposite direction of the path of the tornado. Multiple trees were snapped in this area. The tornado then glanced an RV park, damaging trees and a couple of RVs. It appears the tornado then crossed Old Folkstone Road near a Food Lion where eyewitnesses observed the tornado. Based on eyewitness videos, it appears the tornado lifted right around NC 210. In this area, minor damage occurred at the Sneads Ferry Library, and a car was damaged after it was partially uplifted and dropped back down.

Written by NWS MHX in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

20 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MHX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

• Most wooden fences in this section of the neighborhood were blown down. Fencing material was blown in multiple directions, but generally either towards the east or south.
• Estimated beginning path of tornado. Tree litter notes as well as small branches blown down in the Mill Creek neighborhood along NC 210.
• Southern extent of tornado path damage. At this point there was a clear damage path through a row of trees. The tree damage was worse at this point than it was in the Mill Creek neighborhood.
• Multiple well built homes sustained shingle damage. It is worth noting that the shingles were blown in various directions, and in multiple cases, were blown opposite of the path of the tornado.

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

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 20:14 UTC and running to 00:07 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 20:00 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 Morehead City radar (KMHX), 59 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:36 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 2026 tornado in North CarolinaEvery tornado in North Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in North Carolina nowThe forecast where you are

1 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.