Southeast swells and increased water attendance due to warm weather led to multiple rip current rescues at Carolina Beach, NC.
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.
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.
The episode as NWS ILM wrote it up.
Southeast swells and increased water attendance due to warm weather led to multiple rip current rescues at Carolina Beach, NC.
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 Wilmington, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 3, 5:58 AM EST, 3 hours 2 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Wilmington NC 658 AM EDT Fri Apr 3 2026 .WHAT HAS CHANGED... No major changes coming down the track as we head towards 7 AM EDT. Aviation discussion updated accordingly for the 12Z TAF issuance. && .KEY MESSAGES... - 1) Unseasonable Warmth Continues Through the Weekend. - 2) Showers and a Few Thunderstorms On the Way Late Sunday and Sunday Night Ahead of a Cold Front. - 3) Temperatures Dip Below Seasonal Norms Monday Through Wednesday. && .DISCUSSION... .KEY MESSAGE 1...Unseasonable Warmth Continues Through the Weekend. Continuing to see good vertical continuity in the offshore ridge, which has been responsible for the significant warmth we've seen recently. That train looks to continue through this weekend, with highs looking more like early-mid May, as opposed to early April. Subsidence and onshore flow bringing in cool, stable air from the Atlantic keeps most rain chances at bay today and Saturday. The only minor exception could be parts of the Pee Dee region, where a brief, light shower could squeeze out during the afternoon. Some slight weakening in the subsidence could air surface-based parcels to tap into some meager instability, but this does not look too likely. Persistence forecast wins. .KEY MESSAGE 2...Showers and a Few Thunderstorms On the Way Late Sunday and Sunday Night Ahead of a Cold Front. Sunday will start as another warm, increasingly muggy day. A cold front will approach the area from the west, allowing for a broken line of showers and storms to enter the region. Still not concerned about any severe weather, as the strongest kinematics of the associated trough look to linger near the NC/VA border. Precipitable water values do shoot up to 1.3" on the low end (25th percentile in the current model suite), which is already above the 90th percentile of RAOBs recorded at KMHX. But right as moisture profiles start to turn some heads, the lack of lift and shear vorticity means that we won't be able to accumulate much for rain. Latest rainfall forecast only brings in 0.25-0.50", which is nowhere near the drought buster that we're becoming more desperate for. Bulk of the rain starts coming in Sunday afternoon, moving offshore during the overnight hours Sunday night. As an aside, longer range forecasts over the next 2-3 weeks suggest very little opportunities for rain, so the drought is likely to worsen. D1 (moderate drought) to D2 (severe drought) is ongoing across the area, per the latest from the U.S. Drought Monitor. Some parts of upstate SC and Lowcountry are starting to dip into D3 territory (extreme drought). We're not there yet across northeast SC and southeast NC, but this may become a bigger concern over the next few weeks. Keep an eye U.S. Drought Monitor (droughtmonitor.unl.edu). Their data and maps update every Thursday. .KEY MESSAGE 3...Temperatures Dip Below Seasonal Norms Monday Through Wednesday. Front moves offshore by Monday morning, and winds aloft shift to the WNW, which allows for cold air advection to settle in. Much cooler highs in the upper 60s to near 70 expected Monday and Tuesday. Canadian high pressure pushes into the Northeast by Wednesday, which knocks down temperatures a bit more, with highs only getting into the mid 60s that afternoon. Lows Monday night dip down into the mid-to-upper 40s, becoming the lower 40s Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Temperatures finally start to recover to above seasonal norms by next Thursday and Friday, as high pressure moves offshore, and air mass modification begins. && .AVIATION /12Z FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/... MVFR stratus sourced from southeasterly flow has mostly lifted, but some isolated stratus may pass over the coastal terminals over the next hour or so. Other than that, VFR will develop thereafter. A stray shower is possible through the late morning or early afternoon, primarily for our I-95 counties in SC. Showers will be light due to the poor depth of the cloud layer. Southerly flow continues tonight with some stratus possible late. Sea fog may develop as winds turn southerly tonight, but confidence is low. Extended Forecast...Mainly VFR conditions are expected, although the potential exists for fog/stratus early Saturday morning. Sea fog may become an issue prior to the cold frontal passage late Sunday. && .MARINE... Through Tonight...Bermuda high offshore will maintain southeasterly flow today. Winds turn slightly more southerly tonight as high pressure weakens and inches eastward. Southeast swell energy will keep seas around 3-4 feet. Saturday through Tuesday...Southerly to southwesterly winds at 10-15 kts likely Saturday and Saturday night, with seas lingering at 2-4 ft. A cold front starts to approach the coastal waters Sunday, causing an increase in the gradient winds by the afternoon. Gusts look to increase towards 20 kts, and seas increase to 3-5 ft. Winds start to veer more by Sunday evening, towards the southwest before the front hits, to westerly during the overnight hours, to northerly by Monday morning, and finally settling on northeasterly by Monday afternoon. Gradient decreases, with winds at 10-15 kts and seas at 2- 4 ft through Tuesday. && .ILM WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NC...None. SC...None. MARINE...None. && WHAT HAS CHANGED...ILM KEY MESSAGES...IGB DISCUSSION...IGB AVIATION...21 MARINE...IGB/21
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.
Moderate rip current activity led to 15 rip current rescues on April 3rd and 11 rescues on April 4th by Carolina Beach Ocean Rescue.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Carolina in 2026Every state in 2026This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, April 2026
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: 1316872.