The Harrisburg North Carolina Tornado of 3 March 2012

Severe Weather Across the Ohio Valley and into the Mid Atlantic; Prolonged Heat in the Southern Plains

Scattered damaging winds and a couple tornadoes are possible on Saturday from parts of Ohio into northern West Virginia/Maryland, central and western Pennsylvania, and western New York. The thunderstorm threat will move into the Northeast on Sunday. Prolonged heat will continue across the Southern Plains this weekend and into next week. Read More >

Approximate track of the Harrisburg tornado in eastern Mecklenburg County and western Cabarrus County, North Carolina, on 3 March 2012. The tornado path is shown by the red area. Click on image to enlarge.

000 NOUS42 KGSP 040044 CCA PNSGSP NCZ071-072-041700- PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 739 PM EST SAT MAR 3 2012 ...TORNADO CONFIRMED NEAR CHARLOTTE IN EASTERN MECKLENBURG AND WESTERN CABARRUS COUNTIES IN NORTH CAROLINA... LOCATION...CHARLOTTE IN MECKLENBURG COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA DATE...03/03/12 ESTIMATED TIME...234 AM EST MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...EF2 ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...135 MPH MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...200 YARDS PATH LENGTH...3.2 MILES BEGINNING LAT/LON...35.26N / 80.68W ENDING LAT/LON...35.27N / 80.63W * FATALITIES...0 * INJURIES...4 * THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT(S) AND PUBLICATION IN NWS STORM DATA. ...SUMMARY... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC HAS CONFIRMED A TORNADO NEAR CHARLOTTE IN MECKLENBURG COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA ON 03/03/12. A TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN EARLY SATURDAY MORNING IN EASTERN MECKLENBURG COUNTY...NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF DULIN CREEK BOULVARD AND LITTLE WHITEOAK ROAD...SOUTH OF THE PLAZA ROAD EXTENSION. THE TORNADO THEN MOVED RAPIDLY EAST-NORTHEAST HUGGING...OR PASSING JUST SOUTH OF PLAZA ROAD EXTENSION. THIS IMPACTED A NUMBER OF COMMUNITIES IN ITS PATH. THE TORNADO CROSSED INTERSTATE 485...AND QUICKLY SHIFTED ACROSS BOTH ROBINSON CHURCH ROAD AND PEACH ORCHARD ROAD. THE TORNADO LIFTED IN THE OPEN COUNTY NORTH AND EAST OF PEACH ORCHARD ROAD... BEFORE REACHING HICKORY RIDGE ROAD. IN EASTERN MECKLENBURG COUNTY 162 HOMES HAD SOME IMPACT. TWENTY NINE HAD MAJOR IMPACT AND WERE UNINHABITABLE AND FOUR WERE DESTROYED. IN CABARRUS COUNTY 30 HOMES HAD SOME IMPACT...TWELVE WITH MAJOR DAMAGE AND TWO DESTROYED. WALLS WERE COLLAPSED ON HOMES...ROOFS WERE PARTIALLY OR COMPLETELY BLOWN OFF...ONE HOUSE WAS MOVED FROM ITS FOUNDATION AND DESTROYED. ONE CAR WAS OVERTURNED...WHILE WINDOWS WERE BLOWN OUT OF OTHER VEHICLES AND HOMES. ON A NUMBER OF HOMES...SIDING WAS COMPLETELY STRIPPED AWAY. TREES WERE SNAPPED OR FELLED...AND SOME LANDED ON VEHICLES AND HOMES. THE TORNADO WIDTH INITIALLY BEGAN AT 200 YARD WIDE BUT CONTRACTED SLIGHTLY AT THE END. WITHIN THE DAMAGE SWATH THERE WERE THREE OR FOUR MAIN POCKETS WHERE THE DAMAGE WAS ACCENTUATED. THIS INFORMATION CAN ALSO BE FOUND ON OUR WEBSITE AT WEATHER.GOV/GSP. FOR REFERENCE...THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE CLASSIFIES TORNADOES INTO THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES: EF0...WIND SPEEDS 65 TO 85 MPH. EF1...WIND SPEEDS 86 TO 110 MPH. EF2...WIND SPEEDS 111 TO 135 MPH. EF3...WIND SPEEDS 136 TO 165 MPH. EF4...WIND SPEEDS 166 TO 200 MPH. EF5...WIND SPEEDS GREATER THAN 200 MPH. $$ STUREY