Weekend Severe Weather Recap
By Gannon Medwick
Monday, March 30, 2009
A complex storm system spawned widespread heavy showers and isolated severe weather in Eastern Carolina this weekend past.
Friday brought mainly tame showers, except for a narrow window of time (6 - 7pm). At that time, heavy convective rain showers interacted with a temperature and wind boundary draped across Pitt and Greene Counties (In the northern parts of these counties, temperatures were holding in the low / mid 60s with easterly winds. In the southern parts of these counties, temperatures had warmed into the 70-degree-range with south breezes). The boundary was able to infuse the heavy convective showers with just enough energy and spin to allow them to produce brief, weak tornadoes:
Greenville Case: At ~6:05pm, an EF1 tornado, with winds estimated between 85 and 95mph, produced minor damage to several homes along Firetower Road between Evans Street and Corey Road.
Hookerton Case: Also around 6:05pm, an EF1 tornado, with winds estimated between 105 and 115mph, produced some damage around 2 miles west of town.
Going into this past weekend, Storm Team 9 had been particularly concerned with the severe weather potential for Saturday night. Most of the Channel 9 viewing area went under a Tornado Watch Saturday evening / night, but thankfully, no severe weather actually occurred here. In nearby Bladen County, an EF2 tornado damaged homes and left some people trapped under debris Saturday evening, but the rotating thunderstorm that spawned this tornado failed to produce any subsequent tornadoes or wind damage as it crossed through Sampson, Duplin, and Wayne Counties. Given the ominous setup but the benign outcome, I believe the Channel 9 viewing area dodged a bullet Saturday night.
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