Tornadoes in North Carolina

1. F0 / EF040 to 72 mph on the F scale, 65 to 85 mph on the EF scale

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F1 / EF173 to 112 mph on the F scale, 86 to 110 mph on the EF scale

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2 / EF2113 to 157 mph on the F scale, 111 to 135 mph on the EF scale

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. F3 / EF3158 to 206 mph on the F scale, 136 to 165 mph on the EF scale

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. F4 / EF4207 to 260 mph on the F scale, 166 to 200 mph on the EF scale

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. F5 / EF5261 to 318 mph on the F scale, over 200 mph on the EF scale

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

1. F4, Lenoir, Greene and Pitt counties, North CarolinaMarch 28, 198416 killed, 153 injured
2. EF3, Bertie and Hertford counties, North CarolinaApril 16, 201112 killed, 58 injured
3. F3, Cumberland, Bladen and Sampson counties, North CarolinaMarch 28, 198412 killed, 101 injured
4. F3, Columbus County, North CarolinaNovember 16, 20068 killed, 20 injured
5. EF3, Moore, Lee, Chatham and Wake counties, North CarolinaApril 16, 20116 killed, 103 injured
6. F3, Bertie County, North CarolinaMarch 28, 19846 killed, 19 injured
7. F4, Cleveland, Lincoln and Catawba counties, North CarolinaMay 5, 19894 killed, 52 injured
8. F4, Wake, Franklin, Nash and Halifax counties, North CarolinaNovember 27, 19884 killed, 154 injured
9. EF3 Sunset Beach tornado, North CarolinaFebruary 15, 20213 killed, 10 injured
10. EF2, Bladen, Cumberland and Sampson counties, North CarolinaApril 16, 20113 killed, 13 injured
11. F2, Pender County, North CarolinaAugust 13, 20043 killed, 29 injured
12. F2, Onslow County, North CarolinaJuly 2, 19863 killed, 10 injured

1. F4, Wake, Franklin, Nash and Halifax counties, North CarolinaNovember 27, 1988F4, 83.0 mi (134 km)
2. F4, Lenoir, Greene and Pitt counties, North CarolinaMarch 28, 1984F4, 28.0 mi (45 km)
3. F4, Sampson, Duplin and Wayne counties, North CarolinaMarch 28, 1984F4, 21.0 mi (34 km)
4. F4, Cleveland, Lincoln and Catawba counties, North CarolinaMay 5, 1989F4, 14.0 mi (23 km)
5. F4, Union County, North CarolinaMay 5, 1989F4, 13.0 mi (21 km)
6. F4, Caldwell County, North CarolinaMay 7, 1998F4, 4.0 mi (6 km)
7. F4, Robeson County, North CarolinaApril 8, 1957F4, 0.8 mi (1 km)
8. F3, Harnett, Johnston, Wilson and Edgecombe counties, North CarolinaNovember 23, 1992F3, 160.0 mi (257 km)
9. F3, Cumberland, Sampson, Greene and Edgecombe counties, North CarolinaFebruary 22, 1971F3, 85.7 mi (138 km)
10. EF3, Moore, Lee, Chatham and Wake counties, North CarolinaApril 16, 2011EF3, 65.2 mi (105 km)
11. EF3, Hoke, Cumberland, Harnett and Johnston counties, North CarolinaApril 16, 2011EF3, 52.9 mi (85 km)
12. F3, Wilson, Edgecombe and Bertie counties, North CarolinaNovember 8, 1957F3, 46.9 mi (75 km)

1. F3, Harnett, Johnston, Wilson and Edgecombe counties, North CarolinaNovember 23, 1992160.0 mi (257 km)
2. F3, Cumberland, Sampson, Greene and Edgecombe counties, North CarolinaFebruary 22, 197185.7 mi (138 km)
3. F4, Wake, Franklin, Nash and Halifax counties, North CarolinaNovember 27, 198883.0 mi (134 km)
4. EF3, Moore, Lee, Chatham and Wake counties, North CarolinaApril 16, 201165.2 mi (105 km)
5. F2, Harnett, Wake, Franklin and Warren counties, North CarolinaNovember 2, 196664.5 mi (104 km)
6. F0, Sampson, Wayne, Greene and Pitt counties, North CarolinaApril 8, 196264.1 mi (103 km)
7. F1, Cumberland, Sampson and Duplin counties, North CarolinaMarch 15, 197164.0 mi (103 km)
8. F1, Gaston, Mecklenburg and Union counties, North CarolinaApril 6, 195656.4 mi (91 km)
9. F1, Yadkin, Surry, Stokes and Rockingham counties, North CarolinaMarch 30, 196056.2 mi (90 km)
10. F2, Columbus, Bladen and Pender counties, North CarolinaOctober 4, 196454.6 mi (88 km)
11. F2, Martin, Washington and Tyrrell counties, North CarolinaOctober 4, 196454.1 mi (87 km)
12. EF3, Hoke, Cumberland, Harnett and Johnston counties, North CarolinaApril 16, 201152.9 mi (85 km)

1. EF3 Rocky Mount tornado, North CarolinaJuly 19, 2023$300 million
2. EF3, Moore, Lee, Chatham and Wake counties, North CarolinaApril 16, 2011$172 million
3. EF3, Hoke, Cumberland, Harnett and Johnston counties, North CarolinaApril 16, 2011$141 million
4. EF2, Guilford and Rockingham counties, North CarolinaApril 15, 2018$67 million
5. F3, Forsyth County, North CarolinaMay 7, 1998$50 million
6. F3, Rockingham County, North CarolinaMarch 20, 1998$34 million
7. EF3, Wayne, Greene and Lenoir counties, North CarolinaApril 16, 2011$30 million
8. EF2, Davidson and Randolph counties, North CarolinaNovember 16, 2011$21 million
9. EF2, Stokes County, North CarolinaMay 24, 2017$20 million
10. EF3, Beaufort County, North CarolinaApril 25, 2014$15 million
11. EF2, Burke County, North CarolinaJanuary 11, 2012$13 million
12. EF2, Bladen, Cumberland and Sampson counties, North CarolinaApril 16, 2011$11 million

1. April 16, 201131tornadoes
2. September 5, 201922tornadoes
3. May 7, 199819tornadoes
4. April 15, 199618tornadoes
5. September 15, 199917tornadoes
6. April 13, 202016tornadoes
7. April 19, 201912tornadoes
8. May 28, 197312tornadoes
9. August 3, 202011tornadoes
10. April 28, 201111tornadoes
11. July 2, 200311tornadoes
12. November 4, 199211tornadoes

A tornado is counted once for every county its path crossed, so these add up to more than 1,533. Each county has a page of its own: every tornado that crossed it, year by year.

Before 1950 the record is Thomas P. Grazulis’s list of significant tornadoes: those rated F2 or stronger, and weaker ones that killed somebody. It has 107 in North Carolina from 1765 to 1949, which killed 111 people and injured 1,023; 3 were rated F4 or above. None of them is in the figures above, which are SPC's from 1950.

1. F4, Rockingham, NCFebruary 19, 188423 killed, 100 injured
2. F4, Greensboro, NCApril 2, 193614 killed, 144 injured
3. F3, Roxobel, NCApril 19, 19437 killed, 15 injured
4. F3, N Henderson/N Norlina, NCJanuary 5, 19316 killed, 10 injured
5. F3, N Pittsboro, NCApril 30, 19244 killed, 5 injured
6. F3, Beaver Dam/SE Monroe to Sulphur Springs, NCFebruary 19, 18844 killed, 50 injured
7. F2, Windsor, NCFebruary 21, 19393 killed, 35 injured
8. F2, E Roseboro/E Salemburg/W Newton Grove, NCMay 13, 19213 killed, 30 injured
9. F4, NW Monroe to Norwood, NCApril 12, 19203 killed, 20 injured
10. F2, Locust Level/Harrisville, NCMarch 25, 18843 killed, 20 injured

Significant tornadoes only

Grazulis listed tornadoes rated F2 or stronger, and weaker ones that killed somebody. Most tornadoes are weaker than F2, so the list holds a fraction of the tornadoes that happened.

The early years are thin

A tornado is on record only where somebody saw it and wrote it down. The count rises through the 1800s with settlement and newspapers, not with the weather.

Rated from accounts

Grazulis rated each tornado decades later from newspaper reports, Weather Bureau records and local histories, not from a damage survey.

The tracks are reconstructed

Tornado Archive drew each path through the places Grazulis names, most often as a straight line from the first to the last. A track can miss a town it hit, and a tornado with one named place is a point. The counties are today’s.

A separate record

SPC’s database, from 1950, counts every confirmed tornado of any strength. The two are kept apart on every page and never added together.

Warnings in force in North CarolinaForecast for your townThe live radar over North Carolina

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center. Before 1950: Thomas P. Grazulis, Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991 and Significant Tornadoes 1880-1989, as digitized by Tornado Archive (Maas and others, 2024). Public domain. Counties assigned by this site from today’s NWS county lines.