Tornadoes · United States · North Carolina

1996 tornadoes in North Carolina

54 tornadoes touched down in North Carolina in 1996, 168 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1995 1997 The whole country in 1996

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 mph
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.
F3158 to 206 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5261 to 318 mph
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.
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.

Every tornado in North Carolina in 1996

January 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
January 19	1:16 PM EST	F0	Dare	0.3	50			$30,000

April 13 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 13	8:03 PM EDT	F1	Union	1.0	50			$200,000

April 15 18 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 15	11:20 AM EDT	F0	Pender	0.2	20
April 15	11:50 AM EDT	F0	Pender	0.1	10
April 15	3:25 PM EDT	F1	Duplin	0.3	50		$30,000
April 15	3:30 PM EDT	F2	Duplin	1.5	75		$450,000
April 15	3:33 PM EDT	F2	Duplin	1.0	75	3	$70,000
April 15	3:35 PM EDT	F2	Duplin	0.8	75		$200,000
April 15	3:40 PM EDT	F1	Duplin	0.5	50		$70,000
April 15	3:48 PM EDT	F2	Duplin	1.0	75
April 15	4:20 PM EDT	F0	Lenoir	0.3	25
April 15	4:32 PM EDT	F0	Lenoir	0.3	50
April 15	4:35 PM EDT	F1	Lenoir	0.5	50		$200,000
April 15	4:45 PM EDT	F0	Lenoir	0.5	50
April 15	5:00 PM EDT	F2	Greene	1.3	75		$150,000
April 15	5:10 PM EDT	F1	Pitt	0.7	50		$50,000
April 15	6:08 PM EDT	F0	Wake	2.0	200		$10,000
April 15	6:25 PM EDT	F1	Wake	3.0	50	26	$3.0 million
April 15	6:45 PM EDT	F2	Franklin	2.0	400	5	$1.0 million
April 15	6:45 PM EDT	F1	Nash	4.0	50		$50,000

April 20 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 20	1:50 PM EDT	F0	McDowell	0.1	30			$20,000
April 20	2:00 PM EDT	F1	Watauga	0.1	20		2	$50,000

April 26 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
April 26	2:30 PM EDT	F0	Jones	0.5	50
April 26	2:45 PM EDT	F0	Columbus	0.2	20
April 26	2:50 PM EDT	F0	Jones	0.2	25

May 6 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 6	8:45 PM EDT	F1	Rockingham	0.1	20			$10,000

May 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 11	7:40 PM EDT	F0	Bladen	0.1	10

May 29 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 29	5:40 PM EDT	F1	Iredell	5.0	150			$450,000
May 29	6:05 PM EDT	F1	Rowan	5.0	150			$150,000

July 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 3	3:30 PM EDT	F0	Northampton	1.0	500			$50,000

July 12 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 12	1:30 PM EDT	F0	Wilson	0.3	50
July 12	2:25 PM EDT	F0	Wake	4.5	100	$50,000
July 12	5:20 PM EDT	F0	Carteret	0.5	50
July 12	5:41 PM EDT	F0	Craven	0.5	50

July 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 25	12:54 PM EDT	F1	Caswell	0.1	25			$60,000

August 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 4	9:20 AM EDT	F0	Brunswick	0.1	20

September 6 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 6	10:00 PM EDT	F0	Robeson	0.2	10

September 16 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
September 16	6:35 PM EDT	F0	Cleveland	0.1	180		$1,000
September 16	8:10 PM EDT	F0	Robeson	3.0	10
September 16	9:20 PM EDT	F2	Sampson	1.4	100		$200,000
September 16	11:12 PM EDT	F1	Duplin	2.0	100		$40,000
September 16	12:00 AM EDT	F2	Lenoir	1.0	100	1	$1.0 million
September 16	12:05 AM EDT	F1	Lenoir	1.0	100	1	$1.0 million
September 16	12:30 AM EDT	F1	Craven	0.5	75		$20,000

September 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 17	3:55 AM EDT	F0	Dare	0.3	50		1

October 8 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
October 8	5:45 AM EDT	F0	Brunswick	0.4	15		$100,000
October 8	7:30 AM EDT	F1	Onslow	0.3	50		$60,000
October 8	7:40 AM EDT	F0	New Hanover	0.2	10
October 8	8:20 AM EDT	F0	Dare	0.3	50		$10,000
October 8	9:00 AM EDT	F1	Craven	0.6	50		$10,000
October 8	9:30 AM EDT	F1	Beaufort	0.5	50	1	$30,000
October 8	9:33 AM EDT	F2	Beaufort	1.0	50		$30,000

November 8 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 8	7:25 PM EST	F0	Bladen	0.1	15

December 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 7	4:55 PM EST	F0	Bladen	0.1	10			$10,000

Nearby

Every tornado in North Carolina since 1950 Warnings in force in North Carolina The live radar over North Carolina

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.