16 April 2011 Eastern NC Tornadoes

16 April 2011 brought a historic tornado outbreak to my home state of North Carolina. I was able to get a brief look at two of them -- the one in Wilson, and the one in Farmville. I've previously seen tornadoes while storm chasing on the Great Plains, but after years of trying, this was the first time I ever succeeded in any tornado intercept outside of traditional chase country -- let alone in my own back yard.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• storm
• chase
• tornado
• carolina
• outbreak
• 16
• April
• 2011

[ans0512]

So jealous I was not with you, I need to get your e-mail so we can chase if anything remotely close to this spectacular happens again.

[bozzieboy]

@ans0512 I doubt anything that spectacular will happen again around these parts for years. At least, the odds are against it. A lot of our tornadoes occur at night, and we very seldom see such long-track/steady-state supercells (the kind you can plot an intercept for). Most of our tornadoes are fleeting: by the time you get onto the parent storm, the tornado is usually gone. April 16 was a very special and memorable event indeed.

[bobbilovesben]

The Farmville, NC footage was taken at my parents house/property. I just called my Mom and told her they were famous. :-) She said that she saw your green truck sitting there forever so it was interesting to her to know that you were filming. She was going to invite you inside so you would be safe from the storm. ;-)

[bozzieboy]

@bobbilovesben Please thank your mom for me, for her kindness. I don't know how famous I made the place, but I do know you folks certainly were lucky that day. That storm did right much damage not very far away, as you know. It was fascinating to behold -- something you don't see every day in Pitt County. Thank goodness all is quiet tonight! Best wishes to you and yours this tornado-chase season, my favorite time of year.

[GOODY61]

Good video, was the storm cell which hit Raleigh the same one which went through

Bertie County ?

[bozzieboy]

@GOODY61 No, I believe Bertie Co. was affected by possibly two supercells, neither of them the Raleigh storm. Judging by storm trajectories, the one that killed all those people in Askewville was probably the Farmville supercell (the second one on my video). One aspect of the outbreak that was very unusual for this region was that tornadic supercells were fairly steady-state for long distances.

[YaddahYaddahYaddah12]

It hit right by me it was scary ESP being on a base like I was and couldn't get out O_O

[99emmaleeharris]

I had no power for 2/5 days it suck !!

[tstormmoulton1]

Incredible live-tornado footage....from such an incredible unprecedented most-tornadic month of April ever...I did see a lightning flash and heard a nice rumble before the tornado formed....and BTW..on this very date exactly 33 years ago, 4/23/78...then famous-actress Shirley Temple's very 50th birthday too...I saw lotsa lightning and a funnel cloud at night while down in Duck Key FL...had camcorders/YouTube existed back then..I would have also made for an awesome video just like yours HERE.

[2REALTVOFFICIAL]

@slapjack22 Im from Greenville.

[2REALTVOFFICIAL]

IM from Greenville, NC, and we dodged it. Its amazing....