The National Weather Service has released its full report on the rare Jan. 11 tornadoes that touched down in eastern Burke and neighboring counties.
The report, issued Monday, characterized the tornadoes as hard to predict as “the best combination of shear and instability were forecast to occur along the Carolina Coast” and the North Carolina foothills had “relatively stable air.”
NWS issued a Tornado Warning just one minute before the first twister touched down.
The report concluded that the storm “met the most basic definition of a supercell” but failed to trigger any alarm before a tornado touched down near Ellenboro.
One reason for the lack of notice is that the equipment that tracks storm rotation for the region is located in Columbia, S.C. and is too far away to detect storm rotations below 8,000 feet in the affected areas.
This was the first time that tornadoes had touched down in the North Carolina foothills during winter months — December through February — since NWS began tracking tornadoes in 1950.
This occurrence makes the tornadoes “noteworthy” and “a rare event,” according to the report, which was released Monday.
The tornado that hit near Hildebran was one of three that touched down in the area. An NWS survey team estimated the twister packed winds of up to 130 mph and left a 3.6 mile path of destruction that was nearly 300 yards wide in places.
No lives were lost and only minor injuries were reported, but the storm destroyed at least 34 homes and damaged a total of 168 homes and buildings.
Read the full report at: http://1.usa.gov/zXyz03
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