Tornado damage at Bogue
Tornado damage at Bogue
A man suffered a cut hand and several large items were picked up and tossed around — including a boat on a trailer — in a tornado at the North Carolina coast Saturday afternoon.

Weather officials now say that the tornado at Bogue was very rare — the twister rotated clockwise, which is seen in only about 1 to 2 percent of all tornadoes in the northern hemisphere.

Most that have a clockwise rotation are generally waterspouts or weak tornadoes that do not have rotating updrafts like many "classic" tornadoes.


The EF-0 tornado hit in Carteret County, but the radar signature wasn't typical, weather forecasters said.

"In the case of Saturday's tornado, there was a very weak and small anticyclonic (clockwise) rotation which is of course not the typical signature of a tornado. These weak tornadoes and waterspouts are nearly impossible for the radar to see in great detail. This makes it difficult on meteorologists to determine via radar," said WNCT meteorologist Candice Boling.

The wind speed of the tornado, which began as a waterspout, was 65 mph, weather service officials say. National Weather Service officials referred to it as a "landspout," which is a land-based equivalent of a waterspout.

The twister was on the ground for nearly a mile and was only about 30 yards wide.

The tornado touched down near the intersection of Red Barn Road and Everette Court and then traveled into the Goose Creek RV and Camping Resort, reports say.

The tornado picked up an 18-foot boat that was on a trailer and tossed it onto the porch of a home, according to photos from the scene.

Most damage was minor, breaking small- to medium-limbs and lifting and tossing loose yard furniture and golf carts which caused some collateral damage to homes and vehicles.

Several boats on trailers were moved into a jack knife position with moderate damage to boats and other vehicles.

Several mobile homes had minor damage to roofing material, siding and skirting. Two mobile homes had significant damage to their porch awnings which were lifted and tossed from 30 feet to a over a block away.

A man suffered a minor injury as he tried to prevent yard furniture from blowing away.