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Tornado outbreak in outer bands of Hurricane Dorian hits North Carolina

A number of tornadoes have touched down in North Carolina today, as intense supercells arrive within the outer bands of approaching hurricane Dorian.

A number of waterspouts have been reported close to the shore or coming ashore, with further tornado warnings inland, as a band of landfalling supercells hit North Carolina. Large wedge waterspouts/tornadoes were reported near Ocean Isle, Myrtle Beach (likely the same one). The outbreak began in the morning even before local twilight and continues as of late mornight local time.


While extremely severe straight line winds, storm surge, torrential rainfall and flooding are threats typically associated with hurricanes – they do produce tornadoes too. In particular, intense supercells can populate the outer bands of hurricanes and tornado warnings are often issued with tornadoes near landfall.

UPDATE 17:30 UTC: significant tornado damage reported!



Numerous mesocyclonic waterspouts and tornadoes reported:


Featured photo: waterspout off Emerald Isle, NC as seen from Bogue Inlet Pier. Surfline webcam.