Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings
Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 2025
37 tornado warnings in 2025. 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 2025. Tap one for its archive.
- Tornado Warnings
- 37
- Busiest month
- May17 tornado warnings
- Busiest day
- July 6, 202510 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.
9 of 37 tornado warnings covering North Carolina in 2025 had a tornado report inside them; 13 of 24 tornado reports fell inside a warning, on average 8 minutes after it went out.
North Carolina, 2025
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tornado warnings | 37 | 9 | 76% | 24 | 54% | 8 min |
Each office's whole area, 2025
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NWS Raleigh, NC: tornado warnings | 17 | 3 | 82% | 17 | 47% | 8 min |
| NWS Blacksburg, VA: tornado warnings | 2 | 0 | 100% | 1 | 0% | |
| NWS Morristown, TN: tornado warnings | 28 | 2 | 93% | 3 | 67% | 11 min |
| NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC: tornado warnings | 7 | 4 | 43% | 5 | 80% | 11 min |
| NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC: tornado warnings | 8 | 0 | 100% | 1 | 0% | |
| NWS Wakefield, VA: tornado warnings | 21 | 3 | 86% | 6 | 50% | 4 min |
| NWS Wilmington, NC: tornado warnings | 4 | 3 | 25% | 3 | 67% | 10 min |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 5, 8:17 AM EST | Tornado Warning | RAH | Forsyth | 28 min |
| Mar 5, 8:31 AM EST | Tornado Warning | GSP | Union | 29 min |
| Mar 5, 11:56 AM EST | Tornado Warning | RAH | Granville, Vance | 17 min |
| Mar 5, 12:12 PM EST | Tornado Warning | RAH | Wake | 22 min |
| Mar 16, 9:34 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Stanly | 26 min |
| Mar 16, 7:24 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Pender | 36 min |
| Mar 17, 3:02 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Camden, Currituck, Pasquotank, Perquimans | 28 min |
| May 4, 12:25 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg | 35 min |
| May 5, 5:12 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Bertie | 48 min |
| May 5, 5:17 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Martin, Washington | 28 min |
| May 5, 8:14 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Bertie, Chowan, Gates, Hertford | 31 min |
| May 5, 8:33 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Chowan, Gates, Pasquotank, Perquimans | 27 min |
| May 12, 5:10 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Edgecombe | 35 min |
| May 12, 5:47 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Edgecombe, Halifax | 28 min |
| May 13, 12:13 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Jones, Onslow | 32 min |
| May 13, 3:25 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Edgecombe, Wilson | 35 min |
| May 13, 5:03 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Beaufort, Martin, Washington | 27 min |
| May 14, 9:12 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Cumberland | 33 min |
| May 15, 6:26 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Tyrrell | 34 min |
| May 15, 6:34 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Beaufort, Martin, Pitt | 26 min |
| May 15, 6:57 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Beaufort, Pitt | 33 min |
| May 15, 7:43 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Beaufort, Craven | 32 min |
| May 17, 4:43 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Transylvania | 34 min |
| May 30, 6:03 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Bladen, Columbus, Robeson | 27 min |
| Jun 9, 6:35 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Camden, Currituck | 25 min |
| Jul 6, 8:26 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Beaufort | 34 min |
| Jul 6, 10:52 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Hoke | 38 min |
| Jul 6, 12:54 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Hoke, Lee, Moore | 36 min |
| Jul 6, 1:30 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Edgecombe, Nash, Wilson | 45 min |
| Jul 6, 1:49 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Harnett, Lee | 41 min |
| Jul 6, 3:19 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Chatham, Lee | 26 min |
| Jul 6, 3:48 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Alamance, Chatham, Orange | 16 min |
| Jul 6, 6:13 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Alamance, Orange | 32 min |
| Jul 6, 6:38 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Alamance, Orange | 9 min |
| Jul 6, 6:58 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Alamance, Orange | 21 min |
| Aug 14, 5:25 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Brunswick | 35 min |
| Aug 14, 5:39 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Brunswick | 36 min |
By county
Every county with at least one alert. A county page lists each alert that covered it.
- Beaufort County5
- Edgecombe County4
- Alamance County4
- Orange County4
- Martin County3
- Lee County3
- Camden County2
- Currituck County2
- Pasquotank County2
- Perquimans County2
- Bertie County2
- Washington County2
- Chowan County2
- Gates County2
- Wilson County2
- Pitt County2
- Hoke County2
- Chatham County2
- Brunswick County2
- Forsyth County1
- Union County1
- Granville County1
- Vance County1
- Wake County1
- Stanly County1
- Pender County1
- Gaston County1
- Iredell County1
- Lincoln County1
- Mecklenburg County1
- Hertford County1
- Halifax County1
- Jones County1
- Onslow County1
- Cumberland County1
- Tyrrell County1
- Craven County1
- Haywood County1
- Henderson County1
- Jackson County1
The busiest days
Days with the most alerts issued, by UTC date.
Nearby
Alerts in force nowTornadoes on recordThe radar archive20242026
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.