Tornadoes · United States · North Carolina

2025 tornadoes in North Carolina

15 tornadoes touched down in North Carolina in 2025, 26 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2024 The whole country in 2025

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 2025

March 5 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 58:34 AM ESTEF1Union2.375$150,000

March 16 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 167:25 PM EDTEF1Pender3.1200$30,000

March 17 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 173:02 AM EDTEF1Pasquotank3.41008$195,000

May 3 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 312:43 AM EDTEF0Lincoln1.320

May 4 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 44:59 AM EDTEF0Johnston0.130$20,000

May 5 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 55:18 PM EDTUnratedMartin0.350

May 12 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 125:06 PM EDTEF1Edgecombe2.1100$50,000

May 13 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 133:27 AM EDTEF1Edgecombe1.7115$40,000
May 133:40 AM EDTEF1Edgecombe2.2120$50,000

May 15 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 157:22 PM EDTEF0Dare0.8100

July 6 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 64:27 AM EDTEF0New Hanover1.730$10,000
July 63:00 PM EDTEF1Lee1.0150$2.0 million
July 63:24 PM EDTEF1Chatham1.4100$20,000
July 65:32 PM EDTEF1Alamance0.6175$50,000
July 66:10 PM EDTEF1Orange0.3250$20,000

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.