Photos by National Weather Service out of Greenville Spartanburg Storm Damage Assessment Team
Saturday Night through Wednesday the Foothills of Western North Carolina received multiple rounds of heavy rain and thunderstorms. As more instability worked in of an approaching cold front Wednesday, supercells developed up-stream in Tennessee. These storms moves ESE over the mountains, reorganizing on the east side of the Blue Ridge.
As the storms moved away from the Western Foothills, the organized and continued to strengthen. The southeast segment of the line of storms began to show signs of elevated rotation across Elenboro NC, in Rutherford County. The supercell continued to strengthen as it moved east from there, setting down an EF-1 Tornado on Polkville Road just north of the intersection with Peyton Place. Initial wind speeds reached 94 mph here.
From there the tornadic thunderstorm continued to track East-Southeast crossing Caser Road, Oak Grove Clover Hill Rd, and Hoover Rd. where more trees and powerlines received damage. The trees falling is what damaged the homes in this area. Wind speeds were estimated to be at 94mph.
As the storm moved East-Southeast from Hoover Road it then crossed Charlie Randle Road, Bonita Ct, Shufford Lake Rd, West Stage Coach Trail (NC 182), Harris Creek Rd, back over West Stage Coach Trail (NC 182), Church View Drive, back across West Stage Coach Trail (NC 182). In this area winds continued to be estimated around 94mph.
The tornado paralleled Main Street in the heart of Lawndale as it continued to move East at 45mph. Once east of Lawndale it continued it’s due east movement, crossing Ball Park Rd, Falls St, Selkirk Dr., and crossed NC 18 at Charolais Drive. It was at this point where the tornado began to strengthen and as the tornado approached Fallston-Waco Rd winds increased from 74mph to 85mph on Charity Church Rd. The tornado continued to strengthen here and started to turn right, which is normal for tornadoes as they strengthen.
As the storm approached Fallson-Waco Rd it made a hard right and would parallel Fallston-Waco Rd, all while winds increased to 94mph.
The tornado continued ESE for miles before approaching the Gaston/Cleveland County Line , crossing just North of Benson Dr. The tornado’s strength continued to produce 94 mph winds as it did this damage on Doc Wehunt Rd.
From there the tornado turned back to a more Eastward direction and moved over NC Hwy 150, crossing over the Food Lion and Family Dollar in Cherryville NC. The tornado them approached the more populated areas on the South side of Cherryville, crossing Elm Street and causing this damage with its continued 94 mph winds.
The tornado then moved ESE away from Cherryville crossing Mauney Farm Rd while continuing to strengthen. This is the damage it then produced this damage on Greenway Drive. The winds at this point reached the tornado’s maximum wind speed of 110mph.
The tornado took another right hand turn, moving more South-Southeast from Greenway Drive crossing Saint Marks Church Rd and Tryon School Rd. The tornado began to weaken here with winds estimated at 100mph, which produced this damage.
The tornado continued weakening from here as it moved East-Southeast again and crossed over Abel Rd, producing 94mph winds. The last point of contact with the ground was located along Biggerstaff Landfill Rd.
This tornado traveled approximately 21.9 miles from northwest to southeast, reached up to 100 yards wide, initiating contact with the ground in Polkville, Cleveland County and lifting 7.65 miles northwest of Gastonia. No injuries or deaths were reported as a result of this tornado.
This story will be updated as the official statement from the National Weather Service comes in.
Preliminary Tornado Track
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