Counties with the most tornadoes in North Carolina
Counties with the most tornadoes in North Carolina
It's been a busy year for tornadoes in the U.S. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as many as 1,155 twisters have touched down across the country since the start of the year, above the average for this time of year.
A single day can drive up tornado counts. March 31, 2023, accounted for 163 tornadoes across the Midwest and South. Tornado activity usually peaks in the spring and early summer, and the pace of tornadoes usually slows around late summer. A smaller-scale second tornado season emerges in the fall, mostly in the Gulf Coast states.
Stacker used data from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information to find the counties in North Carolina that have experienced the most tornadoes since 2000. While data is available going back to 1950, tornado tracking by the National Weather Service became more robust and accurate in the 1990s. Since counties can vary in size, they are ranked by the number of tornadoes per 100 square miles. Counties that experienced less than five tornadoes are not included.
The counties that encounter the most tornadoes aren't all in the infamous Tornado Alley. When adjusted for county area, the top 10 counties that experienced the most tornadoes since 2000 are from nine different states, all in the Southeast with the exception of Cleveland County, Oklahoma.
Research has shown that Tornado Alley is shifting due to warming temperatures fueled by climate change. In the future, the Southeast could become the region that receives the bulk of the country's tornadoes. It's a concerning trend as the South is more populated than the Great Plains and has a higher concentration of mobile homes than other parts of the country, making the storms potentially deadlier and costlier.
As of August 2023, 75 people have died from tornadoes this year, and over 60% of those deaths occurred in mobile homes.
The best way to stay protected during tornadoes is to have multiple ways of receiving storm updates including social media, radio, television, and sirens, and to immediately seek shelter in a basement or interior room without windows when a tornado watch escalates to a warning.
Read on to see which counties experience the most tornadoes in North Carolina.
#50. Alamance County
- #1,658 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#49. Iredell County
- #1,628 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#48. Rutherford County
- #1,603 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#47. Bladen County
- #1,580 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#46. Stanly County
- #1,574 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#45. Davidson County
- #1,573 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#44. Hoke County
- #1,565 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#43. Wake County
- #1,456 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#42. Yadkin County
- #1,422 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#41. Catawba County
- #1,412 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#40. Mecklenburg County
- #1,401 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#39. Person County
- #1,400 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#38. Burke County
- #1,374 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#37. Washington County
- #1,262 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#36. Durham County
- #1,247 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#35. Orange County
- #1,241 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#34. Wayne County
- #1,200 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#33. Duplin County
- #1,173 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 1
#32. Harnett County
- #1,163 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#31. Davie County
- #1,130 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#30. Robeson County
- #1,127 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#29. Columbus County
- #1,118 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#28. Cabarrus County
- #1,107 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#27. Lenoir County
- #1,062 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#26. Bertie County
- #1,056 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#25. Pamlico County
- #1,001 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#24. Currituck County
- #860 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#23. Tyrrell County
- #850 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#22. Johnston County
- #786 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#21. Perquimans County
- #767 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#20. Jones County
- #704 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 2
#19. Pitt County
- #679 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#18. Onslow County
- #609 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 1
#17. Martin County
- #580 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#16. Craven County
- #578 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#15. Hertford County
- #575 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#14. Brunswick County
- #574 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#13. Dare County
- #562 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#12. Beaufort County
- #544 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 1
#11. Alexander County
- #470 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#10. Pender County
- #459 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#9. Gaston County
- #360 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 1
#8. Pasquotank County
- #318 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#7. Wilson County
- #317 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#6. Cleveland County
- #291 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#5. Greene County
- #274 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#4. Chowan County
- #223 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#3. Lincoln County
- #128 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#2. New Hanover County
- #10 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#1. Carteret County
- #4 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0