Alert archive / North Carolina

Weather alerts in Sampson County, North Carolina

3,974 weather alerts since 1986, from the National Weather Service and the Storm Prediction Center. An alert counts here when it covered this county.

Sampson County and its neighbors

Each county as a circle sized by its count since 1986. Tap one for its archive.

Alerts
3,974
Warnings
1,028
Watches
550
Advisories
725
Busiest year
2011230 alerts
Average year
99over 40 years on file

Over time

By year

Before late 2005 the archive holds only tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood and marine warnings, and from 1997 SPC's watches, so the jump that year is the archive widening, not the weather.

By month of the year

Warning verification

How often warnings here had a storm report inside them, and how much warning the reports had.

From 2008 to 2025, 87% of tornado reports in Sampson County fell inside a tornado warning issued on average 18 minutes before, and 81% of the tornado warnings had no report inside them.

Tornado warnings by year

WarningsWith a reportFalse alarm ratioReportsInside a warningMean lead time
20089189%250%10 min
20097271%2100%31 min
201111373%3100%20 min
201240100%0
20146433%3100%19 min
201530100%0
201650100%0
20174175%367%20 min
20183167%2100%16 min
201950100%10%
202080100%0
202210100%0
202320100%0
20245260%7100%14 min
Share of tornado reports inside a tornado warning, by year.

Severe thunderstorm warnings by year

WarningsWith a reportFalse alarm ratioReportsInside a warningMean lead time
2008542750%2793%19 min
2009381853%1573%17 min
2010151313%1794%22 min
2011281932%3884%22 min
2012312229%1794%27 min
201314750%888%26 min
2014201335%18100%26 min
2015231248%1182%24 min
2016221436%1164%18 min
2017231248%3278%13 min
2018301840%1587%24 min
201913562%888%30 min
2020161225%2483%17 min
202116756%367%18 min
2022191142%888%20 min
2023312132%2685%24 min
2024191237%15100%16 min
2025382339%15100%20 min

Flash flood warnings by year

WarningsWith a reportFalse alarm ratioReportsInside a warningMean lead time
20083233%2100%89 min
2009110%1100%38 min
201020100%0
20113233%0
201210100%0
2013220%1100%14 min
2014110%1100%35 min
2015220%1100%60 min
20166350%6100%193 min
2018660%10100%865 min
20193233%580%146 min
20209722%1377%102 min
20212150%10%
20226350%0
20235420%863%58 min
20248625%7100%144 min
20254325%0

Years from 2008, the first full year of storm-based warnings. The year still running is on its own page.

Verified by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow, which matches each storm-based warning with the local storm reports inside its polygon while it was in force, within 15 km of its edge: a tornado warning counts as verified on a tornado report, a severe thunderstorm warning on hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more, or wind damage, a flash flood warning on a flash flood report. The false alarm ratio is the share of warnings with no such report; "inside a warning" is the probability of detection, the share of reports that fell inside one; lead time runs from the warning's issue to each report inside it, counting zero for a report that came first. A warning with no report is not proof nothing happened: reports come from spotters, the public and damage surveys, and are thin where few people live.

By product

Every kind of product issued here, grouped by hazard. Each opens the same place narrowed to that product.

The latest warnings

The most recent on file, newest first.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Sep 18, 6:11 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAH49 min
Sep 18, 5:21 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAH39 min
Sep 5, 5:59 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAH46 min
Sep 5, 5:25 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatRAH50 min
Sep 5, 4:45 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAH60 min
Sep 5, 4:39 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAH51 min
Aug 29, 2:25 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRAH3 hr
Aug 27, 5:59 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAH46 min
Aug 24, 7:12 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAH48 min
Aug 24, 4:47 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAH21 min
Aug 21, 3:34 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAH41 min
Aug 21, 3:27 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRAH3 hr

Nearby

Alerts in force nowTornadoes on recordForecastThe radar archive

Sources

National Weather Service watches, warnings, advisories and statements from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's VTEC archive, which reconstructs tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood and marine warnings back to 1986 from the NWS text archive. Storm Prediction Center watches and mesoscale discussions from SPC's archive through the Mesonet. County centers from the US Census Bureau. Warning verification from the Mesonet's Cow. Rebuilt daily.