Tornadoes · United States · North Carolina

2008 tornadoes in North Carolina

56 tornadoes touched down in North Carolina in 2008, 178 percent above the average of the record for the state. They killed 3 people and injured 22.

2007 2009 The whole country in 2008

The rating scale

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

EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
EF2111 to 135 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.
EF3136 to 165 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
EF5over 200 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 2008

February 18 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
February 18	3:45 AM EST	EF2	Greene	1.5	150	3	$500,000
February 18	4:30 AM EST	EF1	Pitt	9.8	150		$100,000
February 18	4:50 AM EST	EF1	Martin	6.2	150		$100,000

March 4 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
March 4	4:54 PM EST	EF0	Alamance	2.8	100	$2.1 million
March 4	8:17 PM EST	EF0	Davie	0.5	25	$15,000
March 4	8:50 PM EST	EF0	Halifax	0.7	75	$200,000

March 15 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 15	6:16 PM EDT	EF0	Columbus	0.0	10
March 15	7:56 PM EDT	EF1	Pender	2.0	100			$2.0 million

April 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 5	3:55 AM EDT	EF0	Lenoir	2.9	100			$5,000

April 12 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 12	3:12 PM EDT	EF0	Wayne	0.4	20	$200,000
April 12	3:22 PM EDT	EF0	Wayne	0.9	20
April 12	3:59 PM EDT	EF0	Pitt	0.1	20

April 19 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 19	8:07 PM EDT	EF1	Cleveland	4.9	25			$25,000
April 19	8:21 PM EDT	EF1	Lincoln	4.3	30			$130,000

April 20 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 20	3:45 PM EDT	EF0	Beaufort	0.1	20
April 20	4:38 PM EDT	EF0	Beaufort	0.2	20
April 20	7:05 PM EDT	EF0	Bertie	0.2	25	$3,000

April 28 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 28	9:30 AM EDT	EF0	Cleveland	0.1	40	$20,000
April 28	5:25 PM EDT	EF0	Beaufort	0.2	20
April 28	5:40 PM EDT	EF0	Hyde	0.1	20

May 8 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 8	10:15 PM EDT	EF2	Davie	3.2	100			$200,000
May 8	10:23 PM EDT	EF2	Forsyth	0.3	50
May 8	10:25 PM EDT	EF3	Forsyth	2.9	300		2	$2.5 million
May 8	11:29 PM EDT	EF2	Guilford	3.9	200	1	3	$4.0 million

May 9 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 9	2:10 AM EDT	EF2	Gaston	18.2	75	$7.0 million
May 9	8:29 AM EDT	EF2	Bertie	11.7	300	$120,000
May 9	9:30 AM EDT	EF0	Pasquotank	0.5	50	$15,000

May 11 10 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
May 11	4:30 PM EDT	EF0	Burke	0.1	20
May 11	4:48 PM EDT	EF0	Lincoln	0.1	20
May 11	6:03 PM EDT	EF0	New Hanover	0.1	10
May 11	6:19 PM EDT	EF0	Cabarrus	0.1	20
May 11	6:25 PM EDT	EF2	Bertie	15.0	200	2	$1.0 million
May 11	6:57 PM EDT	EF2	Onslow	5.0	100	6	$155,000
May 11	7:28 PM EDT	EF0	Onslow	0.2	20
May 11	8:06 PM EDT	EF1	Carteret	2.7	30		$30,000
May 11	8:17 PM EDT	EF0	Carteret	0.3	30		$10,000
May 11	8:27 PM EDT	EF0	Carteret	0.1	10

June 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 23	5:34 PM EDT	EF0	Jones	0.2	20

August 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 7	5:15 PM EDT	EF0	Jones	0.1	50

August 27 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 27	12:30 PM EDT	EF0	Randolph	0.5	50	$2,000
August 27	1:05 PM EDT	EF0	Pender	0.0	10
August 27	1:44 PM EDT	EF0	Johnston	0.3	50
August 27	1:50 PM EDT	EF0	Wilson	4.5	50
August 27	4:08 PM EDT	EF0	Chatham	2.6	100	$20,000
August 27	12:57 AM EDT	EF0	Wilson	1.9	100	$150,000

September 25 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 25	4:15 PM EDT	EF0	Onslow	0.3	10
September 25	1:00 AM EDT	EF0	Pitt	0.5	20			$2,000

September 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 26	10:53 AM EDT	EF0	Bertie	0.6	75			$75,000

November 15 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 15	1:35 AM EST	EF0	Robeson	1.1	30			$50,000
November 15	2:15 AM EST	EF0	Sampson	4.3	50			$25,000
November 15	2:42 AM EST	EF1	Johnston	0.9	50			$30,000
November 15	3:03 AM EST	EF0	Johnston	3.3	50			$75,000
November 15	3:10 AM EST	EF2	Wilson	4.1	150	1	2	$500,000
November 15	3:30 AM EST	EF3	Wilson	8.2	100	1	4	$1.0 million
November 15	4:30 AM EST	EF1	Martin	1.7	50			$50,000

December 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 11	3:50 PM EST	EF1	Cabarrus	2.4	30

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.