Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings
Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 2015
26 tornado warnings in 2015. 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 tornado warnings reaches back to 1986.
Tornado Warnings by county
Each county as a circle sized by its count in 2015. Tap one for its archive.
- Tornado Warnings
- 26
- Busiest month
- June9 tornado warnings
- Busiest day
- May 21, 20154 tornado warnings
Over time
By month
Warning verification
How often warnings here had a storm report inside them, and how much warning the reports had.
4 of 26 tornado warnings covering North Carolina in 2015 had a tornado report inside them; 6 of 13 tornado reports fell inside a warning, on average 5 minutes after it went out.
North Carolina, 2015
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tornado warnings | 26 | 4 | 85% | 13 | 46% | 5 min |
Each office's whole area, 2015
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC: tornado warnings | 4 | 0 | 100% | 2 | 0% | |
| NWS Raleigh, NC: tornado warnings | 5 | 1 | 80% | 1 | 100% | 3 min |
| NWS Wilmington, NC: tornado warnings | 6 | 3 | 50% | 9 | 56% | 5 min |
| NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC: tornado warnings | 7 | 0 | 100% | 4 | 0% | |
| NWS Wakefield, VA: tornado warnings | 21 | 4 | 81% | 9 | 67% | 11 min |
| NWS Morristown, TN: tornado warnings | 2 | 0 | 100% | 0 | ||
| NWS Blacksburg, VA: tornado warnings | 1 | 0 | 100% | 0 |
An office's figures cover every county it serves, including across state lines.
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.
The alerts
Every alert, in the order issued. Times are local, Eastern Time. Each opens its own page with the text, the map, the radar and the sounding.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 4, 4:54 PM EST | Tornado Warning | RAH | Johnston, Sampson, Wayne | 17 min |
| Apr 20, 3:52 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RNK | Caswell, Rockingham | 23 min |
| May 10, 5:46 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Greene, Lenoir | 11 min |
| May 21, 3:40 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Bertie | 35 min |
| May 21, 4:07 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Bertie | 23 min |
| May 21, 4:12 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Columbus | 19 min |
| May 21, 4:37 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Beaufort, Hyde | 38 min |
| Jun 3, 7:53 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Beaufort | 37 min |
| Jun 25, 6:02 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Chowan, Gates, Hertford | 28 min |
| Jun 25, 6:47 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Pasquotank, Perquimans | 28 min |
| Jun 25, 8:35 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Hyde, Tyrrell, Washington | 40 min |
| Jun 27, 3:00 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Brunswick, Columbus | 12 min |
| Jun 27, 5:29 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Brunswick, New Hanover | 31 min |
| Jun 27, 5:43 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Chatham, Lee | 22 min |
| Jun 27, 6:22 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Chatham, Harnett, Lee, Wake | 13 min |
| Jun 27, 8:29 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Bladen, Robeson | 31 min |
| Jul 13, 11:45 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Sampson | 45 min |
| Jul 13, 11:48 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Bladen | 23 min |
| Jul 14, 4:58 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MRX | Cherokee | 47 min |
| Jul 23, 11:52 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Carteret | 38 min |
| Aug 11, 5:06 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Craven, Jones, Onslow | 24 min |
| Dec 23, 7:34 AM EST | Tornado Warning | ILM | Bladen, Pender | 41 min |
| Dec 23, 8:03 AM EST | Tornado Warning | RAH | Sampson | 28 min |
| Dec 23, 8:06 AM EST | Tornado Warning | MHX | Duplin | 54 min |
| Dec 28, 6:56 PM EST | Tornado Warning | GSP | McDowell, Rutherford | 34 min |
| Dec 28, 7:21 PM EST | Tornado Warning | GSP | McDowell | 24 min |
By county
Every county with at least one alert. A county page lists each alert that covered it.
- Sampson County3
- Bladen County3
- Bertie County2
- Columbus County2
- Beaufort County2
- Hyde County2
- Brunswick County2
- Chatham County2
- Lee County2
- McDowell County2
- Johnston County1
- Wayne County1
- Caswell County1
- Rockingham County1
- Greene County1
- Lenoir County1
- Chowan County1
- Gates County1
- Hertford County1
- Pasquotank County1
- Perquimans County1
- Tyrrell County1
- Washington County1
- New Hanover County1
- Harnett County1
- Wake County1
- Robeson County1
- Cherokee County1
- Carteret County1
- Craven County1
- Jones County1
- Onslow County1
- Pender County1
- Duplin County1
- Rutherford County1
The busiest days
Days with the most alerts issued, by UTC date.
Nearby
Alerts in force nowTornadoes on recordThe radar archive20142016
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.