Burlington

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond this area.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Every storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 to 2025.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Flood insurance figures are for Alamance County, the county that contains Burlington.

Claims by ZIP code

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

River gauges in Alamance County, the county that contains Burlington.

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

The drought index is for Alamance County, the county that contains Burlington.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the city centre.
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Sep 15, 1999Hurricane (Typhoon), Alamance$3.0 billion
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Floyd produced more human misery and environmental impact in North Carolina than any disaster in memory. The 15-20 inches of rain that fell across the eastern half of the state caused every river and stream to flood. Many rivers set new flood records. Whole communities were underwater for days, even weeks in some areas. Thousand's of homes were lost. Crop damage was extensive. The infrastructure of the eastern counties, mainly roads, bridges, water plants, etc., was heavily damaged. By the end of 1999, $1.5 billion had already been spent, with estimates that the cost would reach $3-4 billion. The counties within the Raleigh county warning area probably sustained more…

2. Jul 13, 2003Flash Flood$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Extensive flooding caused evacuations. 30 homes and 6 businesses sustained flood damage, and the wastewater treatment plant was damaged. About a dozen cars were underwater. Highways 70 and 119 were closed along with many other roads.

3. Sep 17, 2018Flood$1.1 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Torrential rainfall of 6 to 10 inches caused widespread flooding across the county. Additional rainfall upstream caused moderate flooding along the Haw River near Haw River. Flooding damaged approximately 202 structures throughout the county, resulting in over $1.07 million in property damage. Numerous roads were closed due to flooding. Numerous homes and businesses were flooded as well. While final losses on crops are not yet tallied, estimates around $5 million are possible.

4. Oct 29, 2020Strong Wind, Alamance$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Frequent wind gusts of 40 to 55 mph resulted in scattered to numerous trees and power lines down across Alamance County, including some on homes. Numerous customers lost power in Alamance County as a result of the strong winds.

5. Sep 30, 2022Tropical Storm, Alamance$750,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Frequent wind gusts of 40 to 60 mph resulted in scattered to numerous trees and power lines down across Alamance County, including some on homes. Numerous customers lost power in Alamance County as a result of the tropical storm force wind gusts.

6. Apr 16, 2011Tornado$580,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado first touched down at Bethel Methodist Church Road, snapping some trees thirty feet off the ground and uprooting several other large trees. Similar but slightly heavier damage was noted on Aunt Mary`s Road including the uprooting of a four foot diameter oak tree. A roof was also blown off a two story residence. The tornado continued to move northeast along Altamahaw Union Ridge Road where a home had one wall collapse. Another home had its roof ripped off along with some minor damage to the attached garage. The roof of the home was deposited along the storm track and across the street. The home across the street lost windows and had a portion of its roof removed.…

7. Apr 13, 2020Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-1 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 110 mph touched down near a sawmill business 4 miles southwest of Saxahapaw. The tornado then did considerable damage to buildings and structures on the sawmill property. The tornado continued on the ground toward the northeast for another 4 to 5 miles before lifting one mile east of Saxahapaw, and produced substantial tree and structural damage along the path. The damage consisted of both uprooted and snapped soft and hardwood trees. Numerous homes were damaged by both falling trees and direct wind damage. Several homes had |considerable roof damage and roof cover loss, including one home in which the entire roof was lifted off the…

8. Mar 18, 2021Tornado$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An EF-1 tornado touched down near I-85/40 near the Alamance-Guilford County line, then tracked northeastward and into Alamance County. The tornado produced discontinuous damage along the two and half mile path, and had a maximum estimated wind speed of 100 miles per hour. The tornado lifted near South Church Street. Numerous trees and power lines were reported down as a result, along with multiple homes with roofs blown off.

9. Sep 6, 2008Flash Flood$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flood waters washed away three large steal culverts causing a section of Rolling Hills Road between Charlie Carr Road and Yarborough Road to collapse.

10. Oct 11, 2018Tropical Storm, Alamance$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Tropical storm wind gusts downed numerous trees, caused widespread power outages, and produced a variety of damage to homes and structures across the county. At the peak of the storm, the total peak outages were around 33,000 customers.

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

103°FAug 18, 1988

All-time low

−8°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

80°FAug 9, 2007

Coldest day

13°FJan 30, 1966

Wettest day

7.46 inSep 24, 1947

Snowiest day

14.3 inDec 17, 1930

Hottest year

2007mean 61.5°F

Coldest year

1963mean 56.2°F

Wettest year

201864.11 in

Driest year

194127.74 in

Snowiest season

31.7 in1959-60

Station Greensboro Airport (USW00013723), 902 ft elevation, 26.5 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1928 to October 27, 2026; 100.0% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

Declarations for Alamance County.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USW00013723.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.