North Carolina, 2024

High Wind in North Carolina, February 28, 2024

February 28, 2024 · NWS RNK · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A strong cold front passed over northwestern North Carolina during the late afternoon on February 28. Strong winds in the wake of the front gusted over 60 MPH in the higher elevations of Watauga county.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
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  • Floods
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  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
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Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS RNK wrote it up.

A strong cold front passed over northwestern North Carolina during the late afternoon on February 28. Strong winds in the wake of the front gusted over 60 MPH in the higher elevations of Watauga county.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Blacksburg, VA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 27, 6:54 PM EST, 20 hours 36 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 27, 6:54 PM EST, 20 hours 36 minutes before
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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Watauga

When
February 28, 3:30 PM EST to 3:45 PM EST
Where
Watauga forecast zone
Measured
54 kt (62 mph) measured gust
Reported by
Public
Coordinates
36.231, -81.696 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A personal weather station recorded a wind gust of 62 MPH four miles west of Blowing Rock, NC. Another personal station recorded a wind gust of 60 MPH near Aho, NC.

What these are

High Wind
Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in North Carolina in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, February 2024

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1164528.