Alert archive / North Carolina
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina
24,098 severe thunderstorm warnings since 1986. An alert counts here when it covered any part of the state, so the counties below add up to more than the state. The archive of severe thunderstorm warnings reaches back to 1986.
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings by county
Each county as a circle sized by its count since 1986. Tap one for its archive.
- Severe Thunderstorm Warnings
- 24,098
- Busiest year
- 20111,254 severe thunderstorm warnings
- Average year
- 588over 41 years on file
Over time
By year
Before October 2007 these were issued for whole counties, and a storm crossing three counties was often three warnings; since then one polygon follows the storm. The count changed with the practice, not only with 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, 82% of hail, wind and damage reports in North Carolina fell inside a severe thunderstorm warning issued on average 22 minutes before, and 33% of the severe thunderstorm warnings had no report inside them.
Severe thunderstorm warnings by year
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 1,204 | 604 | 50% | 1,116 | 80% | 23 min |
| 2009 | 909 | 448 | 51% | 828 | 87% | 24 min |
| 2010 | 767 | 569 | 26% | 1,199 | 82% | 23 min |
| 2011 | 1,256 | 941 | 25% | 2,291 | 83% | 23 min |
| 2012 | 1,062 | 736 | 31% | 1,585 | 87% | 24 min |
| 2013 | 501 | 347 | 31% | 874 | 83% | 25 min |
| 2014 | 636 | 438 | 31% | 969 | 82% | 21 min |
| 2015 | 532 | 372 | 30% | 828 | 81% | 21 min |
| 2016 | 700 | 511 | 27% | 1,257 | 79% | 22 min |
| 2017 | 561 | 378 | 33% | 1,060 | 76% | 20 min |
| 2018 | 608 | 434 | 29% | 982 | 81% | 21 min |
| 2019 | 710 | 489 | 31% | 1,359 | 79% | 22 min |
| 2020 | 514 | 315 | 39% | 860 | 79% | 23 min |
| 2021 | 425 | 270 | 36% | 626 | 76% | 19 min |
| 2022 | 752 | 474 | 37% | 1,204 | 79% | 21 min |
| 2023 | 762 | 573 | 25% | 1,430 | 85% | 22 min |
| 2024 | 641 | 448 | 30% | 1,079 | 81% | 24 min |
| 2025 | 682 | 474 | 30% | 1,156 | 82% | 23 min |
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 county
Every county with at least one alert. A county page lists each alert that covered it.
- Wake County1,166
- Johnston County980
- Mecklenburg County893
- Harnett County794
- Chatham County784
- Iredell County771
- Rutherford County769
- Randolph County742
- Franklin County694
- Columbus County691
- Sampson County691
- Craven County688
- Moore County688
- Guilford County680
- Nash County673
- Surry County663
- Gaston County662
- Rockingham County659
- Cleveland County655
- Burke County654
- Catawba County649
- Rowan County633
- Cumberland County630
- Granville County628
- Durham County623
- Lincoln County623
- Beaufort County598
- Wayne County594
- Davidson County589
- Stokes County589
- Bladen County585
- Orange County577
- Robeson County576
- Buncombe County572
- Wilson County567
- Cabarrus County563
- Onslow County550
- Jones County546
- McDowell County543
- Wilkes County540
60 more counties
- Henderson County537
- Montgomery County530
- Union County519
- Alamance County514
- Pitt County514
- Polk County514
- Halifax County503
- Duplin County493
- Caldwell County490
- Richmond County484
- Caswell County468
- Hoke County460
- Edgecombe County455
- Lee County452
- Brunswick County447
- Transylvania County434
- Lenoir County433
- Forsyth County430
- Pender County418
- Warren County418
- Yadkin County417
- Vance County415
- Anson County404
- Cherokee County397
- Stanly County396
- Alexander County384
- Person County380
- Davie County363
- Hyde County356
- Northampton County353
- Pamlico County352
- Carteret County340
- Scotland County339
- Greene County333
- Hertford County332
- Camden County331
- Currituck County325
- Dare County324
- Martin County322
- Jackson County317
- Haywood County317
- Bertie County314
- Alleghany County312
- Gates County311
- Macon County293
- Madison County293
- Pasquotank County290
- New Hanover County274
- Ashe County274
- Yancey County267
- Washington County265
- Swain County261
- Perquimans County249
- Tyrrell County237
- Chowan County225
- Avery County217
- Mitchell County216
- Clay County208
- Graham County183
- Watauga County180
The latest severe thunderstorm warnings
The most recent on file, newest first.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 21, 9:26 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Cleveland | 34 min |
| Sep 21, 7:44 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Granville, Person, Vance | 22 min |
| Sep 21, 6:44 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Catawba, Iredell | 46 min |
| Sep 21, 6:40 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Northampton | 31 min |
| Sep 21, 6:26 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Alamance, Durham, Orange, Person | 64 min |
| Sep 21, 6:16 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Caswell, Rockingham | 44 min |
| Sep 21, 5:52 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Chatham, Wake | 30 min |
| Sep 21, 5:31 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Davidson, Guilford, Randolph | 59 min |
| Sep 21, 5:15 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | McDowell | 45 min |
| Sep 21, 5:11 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Caswell, Rockingham | 64 min |
| Sep 21, 4:56 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Forsyth, Guilford | 64 min |
| Sep 21, 4:24 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Stokes, Surry, Yadkin | 36 min |
Nearby
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.