Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings
Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 2026
36 tornado warnings in 2026. 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 2026. Tap one for its archive.
- Tornado Warnings
- 36
- Busiest month
- July18 tornado warnings
- Busiest day
- March 16, 202611 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.
6 of 36 tornado warnings covering North Carolina in 2026 had a tornado report inside them; 8 of 19 tornado reports fell inside a warning, on average 8 minutes after it went out.
North Carolina, 2026
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tornado warnings | 36 | 6 | 83% | 19 | 42% | 8 min |
Each office's whole area, 2026
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC: tornado warnings | 12 | 3 | 75% | 8 | 38% | 6 min |
| NWS Blacksburg, VA: tornado warnings | 16 | 1 | 94% | 2 | 50% | 28 min |
| NWS Morristown, TN: tornado warnings | 10 | 1 | 90% | 3 | 33% | 3 min |
| NWS Wakefield, VA: tornado warnings | 18 | 1 | 94% | 2 | 50% | 3 min |
| NWS Wilmington, NC: tornado warnings | 4 | 0 | 100% | 3 | 0% | |
| NWS Raleigh, NC: tornado warnings | 8 | 0 | 100% | 0 | ||
| NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC: tornado warnings | 5 | 3 | 40% | 8 | 63% | 10 min |
An office's figures cover every county it serves, including across state lines.
The year is still running; reports filed late and damage surveys can still change these figures.
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 12, 1:05 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Brunswick, Columbus | 11 min |
| Mar 12, 2:23 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Craven, Jones, Onslow | 37 min |
| Mar 12, 2:48 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Carteret, Craven, Pamlico | 27 min |
| Mar 16, 7:12 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Madison, Yancey | 33 min |
| Mar 16, 8:16 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Cleveland, Rutherford | 33 min |
| Mar 16, 9:40 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Cabarrus, Mecklenburg | 35 min |
| Mar 16, 9:56 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | RNK | Stokes | 34 min |
| Mar 16, 10:13 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford | 32 min |
| Mar 16, 10:36 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Stanly | 24 min |
| Mar 16, 10:44 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | RNK | Rockingham | 31 min |
| Mar 16, 10:58 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | RNK | Caswell, Rockingham | 32 min |
| Mar 16, 11:15 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | RNK | Caswell | 30 min |
| Mar 16, 12:51 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Chowan, Perquimans | 24 min |
| Mar 16, 2:59 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Camden, Pasquotank, Perquimans | 31 min |
| Jun 23, 3:43 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Camden, Currituck | 32 min |
| Jul 6, 3:10 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Dare | 35 min |
| Jul 10, 6:51 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Burke, Catawba, Cleveland, Lincoln | 26 min |
| Jul 20, 2:50 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Edgecombe, Halifax | 25 min |
| Jul 28, 5:36 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Madison, Yancey | 39 min |
| Jul 28, 6:17 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Alexander, Catawba, Iredell, Lincoln | 28 min |
| Jul 28, 6:22 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Buncombe, Madison | 38 min |
| Jul 28, 6:24 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Alamance, Guilford | 51 min |
| Jul 28, 6:25 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RNK | Rockingham | 20 min |
| Jul 28, 7:01 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Alamance, Orange | 44 min |
| Jul 28, 7:26 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Graham, Swain | 49 min |
| Jul 28, 7:59 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MRX | Cherokee, Clay | 19 min |
| Jul 28, 8:00 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Macon | 23 min |
| Jul 28, 8:03 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Alamance, Durham, Orange | 42 min |
| Jul 28, 8:11 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MRX | Clay | 34 min |
| Jul 28, 8:16 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Durham, Orange | 21 min |
| Jul 28, 8:27 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MRX | Cherokee | 33 min |
| Jul 28, 10:33 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Bertie, Chowan, Perquimans | 18 min |
| Jul 28, 10:59 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Beaufort, Hyde | 31 min |
| Aug 21, 4:35 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | New Hanover, Pender | 25 min |
| Aug 21, 6:03 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Chatham, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph | 27 min |
| Aug 24, 4:34 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Carteret | 26 min |
By county
Every county with at least one alert. A county page lists each alert that covered it.
- Madison County3
- Rockingham County3
- Perquimans County3
- Alamance County3
- Orange County3
- Craven County2
- Carteret County2
- Yancey County2
- Cleveland County2
- Guilford County2
- Montgomery County2
- Moore County2
- Randolph County2
- Caswell County2
- Chowan County2
- Camden County2
- Catawba County2
- Lincoln County2
- Cherokee County2
- Clay County2
- Durham County2
- Brunswick County1
- Columbus County1
- Jones County1
- Onslow County1
- Pamlico County1
- Rutherford County1
- Cabarrus County1
- Mecklenburg County1
- Stokes County1
- Davidson County1
- Forsyth County1
- Stanly County1
- Pasquotank County1
- Currituck County1
- Dare County1
- Burke County1
- Edgecombe County1
- Halifax County1
- Alexander County1
The busiest days
Days with the most alerts issued, by UTC date.
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.