Tornadoes · United States · North Carolina

1998 tornadoes in North Carolina

65 tornadoes touched down in North Carolina in 1998, 222 percent above the average of the record for the state. They killed 2 people and injured 53. 1 were rated F4 or EF4 and above.

1997 1999 The whole country in 1998

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 1998

January 8 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
January 8	9:01 AM EST	F1	New Hanover	0.2	30		3	$180,000

March 8 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
March 8	2:38 PM EST	F0	Robeson	0.3	30		$10,000
March 8	3:03 PM EST	F1	Robeson	2.0	30	3	$100,000
March 8	4:10 PM EST	F0	Columbus	0.3	30		$20,000
March 8	5:10 PM EST	F2	Wayne	1.0	50		$100,000

March 20 10 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 20	2:42 PM EST	F0	Mecklenburg	0.1	30
March 20	3:14 PM EST	F1	Stokes	1.5	30		3	$100,000
March 20	3:25 PM EST	F3	Rockingham	12.0	300	2	27	$34 million
March 20	6:15 PM EST	F0	Wake	0.1	30
March 20	6:30 PM EST	F2	Durham	2.5	100		1	$600,000
March 20	6:40 PM EST	F2	Wake	1.5	100		2	$650,000
March 20	6:45 PM EST	F0	Wake	0.2	30			$10,000
March 20	6:55 PM EST	F2	Granville	1.5	100			$100,000
March 20	7:35 PM EST	F1	Franklin	0.1	50			$50,000
March 20	8:45 PM EST	F1	Robeson	0.5	30		1	$20,000

April 1 8 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 1	3:45 PM EST	F0	Wayne	0.5	50		$30,000
April 1	3:50 PM EST	F1	Lenoir	1.0	50		$30,000
April 1	3:55 PM EST	F1	Lenoir	1.5	100		$350,000
April 1	4:05 PM EST	F1	Lenoir	1.5	80	3	$90,000
April 1	4:50 PM EST	F0	Lenoir	1.0	50
April 1	5:15 PM EST	F0	Jones	0.5	50
April 1	5:30 PM EST	F0	Craven	0.5	50
April 1	5:44 PM EST	F0	Craven	0.5	50

May 4 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 4	5:04 PM EDT	F0	Jones	0.2	50
May 4	5:22 PM EDT	F0	Jones	0.2	50

May 7 19 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
May 7	4:35 PM EDT	F1	Madison	1.3	50
May 7	4:35 PM EDT	F0	Caswell	0.5	50	2	$200,000
May 7	5:15 PM EDT	F0	Alexander	5.0	300		$420,000
May 7	5:25 PM EDT	F1	Iredell	3.0	1,320		$100,000
May 7	5:49 PM EDT	F4	Caldwell	4.0	1,320	2	$1.1 million
May 7	5:50 PM EDT	F1	Iredell	3.0	440		$1.0 million
May 7	5:55 PM EDT	F2	McDowell	3.7	880		$480,000
May 7	6:03 PM EDT	F1	Alexander	10.0	200		$450,000
May 7	6:15 PM EDT	F0	Davie	5.0	100
May 7	6:19 PM EDT	F1	Surry	2.5	100		$800,000
May 7	6:30 PM EDT	F3	Forsyth	2.0	30	5	$50 million
May 7	6:49 PM EDT	F2	Lincoln	2.0	440		$210,000
May 7	7:10 PM EDT	F1	Davidson	0.1	100		$50,000
May 7	7:20 PM EDT	F1	Guilford	1.5	30		$100,000
May 7	7:25 PM EDT	F0	Lincoln	5.0	50		$20,000
May 7	7:45 PM EDT	F0	Mecklenburg	6.0	50		$50,000
May 7	8:07 PM EDT	F1	Guilford	1.5	30
May 7	8:11 PM EDT	F1	Randolph	1.0	30
May 7	11:48 PM EDT	F1	New Hanover	2.0	40		$40,000

May 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 23	3:15 PM EDT	F1	New Hanover	1.5	40		1	$50,000

June 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 2	5:15 PM EDT	F0	Carteret	17.0	50			$1,000

June 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 3	8:17 PM EDT	F0	Watauga	2.0	60			$20,000

June 13 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 13	4:15 PM EDT	F1	Bladen	0.3	30
June 13	4:21 PM EDT	F0	Pender	0.1	30
June 13	4:25 PM EDT	F1	Bladen	2.0	30	$30,000
June 13	5:02 PM EDT	F0	Brunswick	0.1	30

June 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 15	3:50 PM EDT	F0	Caswell	0.1	30			$2,000

June 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 19	7:20 PM EDT	F1	New Hanover	2.0	30			$150,000

July 31 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 31	3:45 PM EDT	F0	Carteret	0.2	30

August 26 8 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 26	1:25 PM EDT	F1	Carteret	0.3	30	$230,000
August 26	3:10 PM EDT	F1	Craven	0.5	40	$200,000
August 26	5:00 PM EDT	F0	Pamlico	0.1	30
August 26	5:05 PM EDT	F1	Duplin	0.2	30	$90,000
August 26	5:35 PM EDT	F0	Tyrrell	2.0	30	$40,000
August 26	6:25 PM EDT	F0	Chowan	0.3	50	$10,000
August 26	6:39 PM EDT	F0	Beaufort	0.1	30
August 26	8:00 PM EDT	F0	Washington	0.5	40	$70,000

September 3 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 3	10:30 PM EDT	F0	Carteret	2.0	50			$50,000
September 3	10:45 PM EDT	F1	Hyde	0.2	30			$200,000

September 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 28	4:55 PM EDT	F0	Catawba	0.2	30			$20,000

Crossed into North Carolina

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into North Carolina. They are counted under the state they began in.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 7	2:00 PM CDT	F1	Polk, TN to NC	14.0	100			$180,000

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.