Rocky Mount

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.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

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 Nash County, the county that contains Rocky Mount.

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 Nash County, the county that contains Rocky Mount.

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 Nash County, the county that contains Rocky Mount.

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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jul 19, 2023Tornado$300 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The remnants of a Mesoscale Convective Vortex initiated a tornadic supercell on its southeastern quadrant as it quickly moved into the northern Coastal Plain early Wednesday morning. The tornado initially touched down southwest of Dortches, NC where power poles were bent and hardwoods snapped at the trunk were observed. The|tornado crossed I-95 just north of exit 138 and produced widespread tree damage on both sides of I-95 and in the median. As it moved into the municipality of Dortches the first instances of EF-2 damage was observed as it entered into a neighborhood |comprised of single-wide units. Multiple single-wide homes were completely destroyed and removed 20-30 yards from…

2. Oct 9, 2016Flood$213 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Torrential rainfall of 8 to 12 inches caused widespread flash flooding across the county. Additional heavy rainfall upstream caused major flooding along the Tar River Basin. Flooding damaged approximately 1,761 structures throughout the county, resulting in $213.4 million in property damage, and $20 million in crop damage. Numerous streets and roads were reported flooded, with several washouts reported on secondary roads.

3. Sep 27, 2024Tornado$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A powerful but brief tornado touched down in Rocky Mount North Carolina around 12:30 PM. While the path was short, the damage was intense, as all but one of the masonry exterior walls was blown over at an auto repair shop, and another nearby brick building was completely leveled with none of the walls left standing. Many of the surrounding building were damaged from brick and masonry blocks that were picked up and thrown into the walls and windows of the nearby buildings. Dozens of vehicles, including several large trucks, were picked up and tossed around.

4. Aug 4, 2020Tropical Storm, Nash$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Frequent wind gusts of 35 to 50 mph resulted in scattered to numerous trees and power lines down across Nash County, including some on homes. Numerous customers lost power in Nash County as a result of the tropical storm force winds.

5. Oct 29, 2020Strong Wind, Nash$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 Nash County, including some on homes. Numerous customers lost power in Nash County as a result of the strong winds.

6. Sep 18, 2003Hurricane (Typhoon), Nash$809,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Isabel made landfall along the Outer Banks just north of Cape Lookout around 1 pm on September 18, 2003. The eye of the storm tracked northeast passing over eastern Halifax County. Winds gusts to near Hurricane force were recorded over Halifax county. Many locations across the Coastal Plain and even back into the Triangle received wind gusts between 50 to 70 mph late in the afternoon until early evening. Many trees were uprooted falling on vehicles and homes all across the area. One person was killed in Franklin county when their vehicle struck a downed tree. Up to 6 inches of rain fell across Edgecombe, Halifax and Wilson counties resulting in flooding of several roads.

7. Sep 30, 2022Tropical Storm, Nash$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 Nash County, including some on homes. Numerous customers lost power in Nash County as a result of the tropical storm force wind gusts.

8. Aug 17, 2003Lightning$710,000
9. Sep 6, 2019Tropical Storm, Nash$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Frequent wind gusts of 30 to 45 mph resulted in scattered trees and power lines down across Nash County, including some on homes. Numerous customers lost power in Nash County as a result of the tropical storm force winds.

10. Sep 13, 2018Tropical Storm, Nash$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Frequent wind gusts of 30 to 50 mph resulted in numerous trees down across Nash County, including on homes, cars, power lines and damage to structures. Numerous customers lost power in Nash County as a result of the tropical storm force winds.

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

107°FJul 18, 1942

All-time low

−5°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

84°F3 times, most recently Aug 19, 1906

Coldest day

15°F2 times, most recently Jan 20, 1994

Wettest day

9.50 in2 times, most recently Oct 9, 2016

Snowiest day

15.0 inMar 3, 1927

Hottest year

1921mean 63.8°F

Coldest year

1976mean 58.6°F

Wettest year

198962.80 in

Driest year

198832.21 in

Snowiest season

32.3 in1979-80

Station Tarboro 1 S (USC00318500), 35 ft elevation, 16.2 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1887 to October 27, 2026; 96.6% 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 Nash 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 USC00318500.
• 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.