F2 Storm Cuts Across County

A powerful storm system Thursday evening spawned a tornado that wreaked havoc on Greensboro's Piedmont Triad International Airport, damaging five aircraft in its path.

Registering as an F2 tornado on the Fujita Scale with winds between 113-157 mph, the twister damaged at least five medium-size planes, including regional jets and cargo planes, said Kevin Baker, the assistant executive director of the airport authority to the Winston-Salem Journal.

Photos and videos showed two FedEx ATR-42 cargo planes blown off the tarmac into a construction site. The other aircraft were reported to be several unoccupied passenger jets including two Northwest Airlines CRJs and an ERJ sustaining only minor damage.

National Weather Service offices in Raleigh and Greenville-Spartanburg stated that a moist low pressure system combined with warm surface air and cold air aloft created the perfect conditions for the system that created two tornados in the region between 2130 and midnight on Thursday evening.

May is a fertile time for tornados, which tend to peak this time of year before falling off during the hot summer months and all but disappearing over the winter, according to the NWS.

Off the airport, the tornado caused one death in its path across the county, when a small truck was overturned with its driver asleep inside. It was the first fatal tornado of 2008 for North Carolina.

FMI: www.flyfrompti.com