Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2026
Tornado Watch 69
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 16, 2026, 1:18 PM EDT for 33 counties in North Carolina; 6 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 7 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Mar 16, 2026, 1:18 PM EDT (17:18 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 16, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 65 kt
All 39 counties
Beaufort County, NC, Bladen County, NC, Brunswick County, NC, Carteret County, NC, Columbus County, NC, Craven County, NC, Cumberland County, NC, Dare County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Franklin County, NC, Greene County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Harnett County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Johnston County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Martin County, NC, Nash County, NC, New Hanover County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pender County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Robeson County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Wake County, NC, Warren County, NC, Washington County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC, Dillon County, SC, Florence County, SC, Georgetown County, SC, Horry County, SC, Marion County, SC, Williamsburg County, SC
The radar
The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 63 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:19 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.
Open the radar archive at this moment
The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.
What SPC expected
The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.
- Two or more tornadoes
- 60%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 30%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 70%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 50%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 20%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 10%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 90%
Warnings issued inside it
14 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 1:28 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Brunswick, New Hanover, Pender | 62 min |
| Mar 16, 1:54 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Beaufort, Craven, Duplin, Greene, Jones, Lenoir and 3 more | 66 min |
| Mar 16, 2:25 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Martin, Pitt | 50 min |
| Mar 16, 2:30 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Beaufort, Martin, Washington | 45 min |
| Mar 16, 2:45 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Georgetown | 19 min |
| Mar 16, 3:02 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Beaufort, Duplin, Greene, Lenoir, Martin, Pitt | 58 min |
| Mar 16, 3:02 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Horry | 32 min |
| Mar 16, 3:54 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Dare, Hyde | 51 min |
| Mar 16, 6:01 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Robeson | 44 min |
| Mar 16, 6:05 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Alamance, Chatham, Cumberland, Durham, Granville, Harnett and 8 more | 40 min |
| Mar 16, 6:17 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Bladen, Columbus, Robeson | 73 min |
| Mar 16, 6:39 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Chatham, Cumberland, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Harnett and 10 more | 66 min |
| Mar 16, 7:27 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Beaufort, Craven, Duplin, Greene, Jones, Lenoir and 3 more | 78 min |
| Mar 16, 7:31 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Edgecombe, Franklin, Halifax, Johnston, Nash, Sampson and 5 more | 74 min |
Discussions around it
SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.
The nearest sounding before it
Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 5.3 hours before the alert went out and 62 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -210 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1180 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 36 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 233 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 190 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.2
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 15, 9:22 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Cherokee, Clay | 9 hr |
| Mar 16, 3:37 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Clay | 113 min |
| Mar 16, 4:21 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke and 19 more | 114 min |
| Mar 16, 4:36 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke and 28 more | 6 hr |
| Mar 16, 7:23 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cleveland and 7 more | 97 min |
| Mar 16, 8:40 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Anson, Cabarrus, Caswell, Chatham, Davidson and 23 more | 2 hr |
| Mar 16, 8:54 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alamance, Anson, Caswell, Chatham, Cumberland, Davidson and 19 more | 5 hr |
| Mar 16, 10:52 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Gates, Hertford and 3 more | 8 hr |
| Mar 16, 11:15 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus and 22 more | 90 min |
| Mar 16, 2:00 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Gates, Halifax and 5 more | 90 min |
| Mar 16, 3:19 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret and 28 more | 116 min |
| Mar 16, 5:32 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Bertie, Bladen, Caswell, Chatham, Cumberland and 29 more | 118 min |
| Mar 16, 7:54 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Chesterfield and 13 more | 96 min |
| Mar 16, 7:59 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Chesterfield and 11 more | 7 hr |
| Mar 16, 10:36 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Chesterfield and 15 more | 84 min |
| Mar 16, 12:49 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Hampton, Jasper | 86 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2026Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 2026Every tornado watch in 2026
Sources
The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.