Tornadoes · United States · North Carolina

2024 tornadoes in North Carolina

43 tornadoes touched down in North Carolina in 2024, 113 percent above the average of the record for the state. They killed 2 people and injured 21.

2023 2025 The whole country in 2024

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.

  1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

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

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

  6. 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.

  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.

Every tornado in North Carolina in 2024

January 9 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 912:27 PM ESTEF1Catawba9.025014$250,000

January 10 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 108:03 PM ESTEF1Craven5.0125
January 109:05 PM ESTEF0Carteret0.160
January 109:05 PM ESTEF1Carteret0.275

April 11 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 116:43 PM EDTEF1Wilkes6.0150$250,000
April 117:52 PM EDTEF1Rowan1.340$75,000

May 8 6 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 83:00 PM EDTEF1Cleveland21.3100
May 83:40 PM EDTEF1Gaston8.2602$200,000
May 811:41 PM EDTEF1Cherokee2.340
May 812:14 AM EDTEF1Jackson9.4400
May 812:16 AM EDTEF0Buncombe2.330$100,000
May 812:23 AM EDTEF1Jackson1.5200

May 14 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 145:52 PM EDTEF0Robeson0.130
May 146:00 PM EDTEF0Robeson5.240$10,000
May 146:06 PM EDTEF0Robeson0.2150$5,000
May 147:52 PM EDTEF0Columbus2.240$20,000
May 148:03 PM EDTEF0Columbus6.040$4,000

May 24 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 245:24 PM EDTEF1Onslow8.8150

August 3 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 35:28 PM EDTEF1Wake1.530$120,000

August 6 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 64:09 PM EDTEF0Brunswick0.340$5,000

August 7 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 72:09 PM EDTEF2Pender4.740$500,000
August 72:43 PM EDTEF0Pender1.835

August 8 7 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 82:08 AM EDTEF2Greene9.5400
August 82:45 AM EDTEF3Wilson6.52001$2.0 million
August 88:07 AM EDTEF1Franklin2.9125$25,000
August 810:35 AM EDTEF0Nash0.250$10,000
August 83:29 PM EDTEF0Franklin1.075$15,000
August 85:04 PM EDTEF0Edgecombe0.250$5,000
August 87:00 PM EDTEF1Vance1.6100$120,000

September 15 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 1511:52 AM EDTEF0Brunswick0.520

September 16 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 167:26 PM EDTEF0Carteret0.360

September 25 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 254:07 PM EDTEF0Rutherford0.425$5,000
September 256:38 PM EDTEF1Watauga0.675$8,000

September 26 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 2612:03 PM EDTEF1Wilkes0.475$15,000
September 268:11 PM EDTEF0Alamance0.350$22,000

September 27 6 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 2711:17 AM EDTEF0Bladen5.030
September 2711:22 AM EDTEF1Bladen6.3100$50,000
September 271:30 PM EDTEF3Nash0.310015$1.2 million
September 273:25 PM EDTEF1Rockingham0.350$35,000
September 276:13 PM EDTEF1Durham0.650$30,000
September 276:33 PM EDTEF1Vance0.550$500,000

December 29 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 298:13 AM ESTEF0Polk1.075
December 299:21 AM ESTEF0Mecklenburg1.720

Nearby

Every tornado in North Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in North CarolinaThe 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.