Tyrrell County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Tyrrell County: 0.
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.

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

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.

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 county boundary (or inside the county).
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. Aug 26, 2011Storm Surge/Tide, Tyrrell$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Winds gusted to hurricane force resulting in a 3 to 5 foot surge along the Albemarle Sound including the Columbia area.

2. Aug 26, 2011Hurricane (Typhoon), Tyrrell$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Across Tyrrell County...winds gusting to hurricane force resulting in numerous trees and power-lines down with power outages. A 3 to 5 foot surge occurred along the Albemarle Sound including the Columbia area. Heavy rainfall resulted in freshwater flooding of roads and low lying Areas. An EF2 tornado touched down near Columbia during the late evening on the 26th. Several manufactured homes were completely destroyed along Highway 64. Significant damage occurred to structures and crops.

3. Sep 13, 2018Tropical Storm, Tyrrell$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread heavy rain and strong winds developed over the region from the morning of September 13th through the evening of September 15th. Rainfall was generally 3��� to 4��� over most of the county with a storm total of 4.26��� in Gum Neck. Gusty northeast winds developed ahead of Florence as the storm approached the coast, with a peak wind gust of 62 mph at Alligator River Bridge at 515 PM LST on September 13th. The gusty winds combined with saturated ground led to some downed trees with and power outages.

4. Apr 16, 2011Tornado$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado spun up along Highway 94, about 5.5 miles southeast of Columbia. Trees on either side of the highway were blow down or snapped off with damage estimated at EF0. The tornado continued to move northeast through fields, before intensifying to EF1 with winds estimated at 105 mph as it struck a church along Highway 64 near Alligator. Nearly half the roof was blown off the church with an entire wall collapsed. A mobile home nearby the church was also severely damaged. The tornado then moved into fields and appeared to dissipate just north of Highway 64.

5. Aug 26, 2011Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several manufactured homes were completely destroyed with the metal undercarriages severely mangled and twisted around tree trunks indicating a high end EF2 tornado with estimated winds of 130 mph.

6. May 14, 2006Tornado$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tornado moved northeast across the southern part of Columbia causing light to moderate damage to many structures. Many trees, signs, and power lines were down across the town.

7. Jun 4, 2004Tornado$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Brief tornado touchdown at a marina on Dewey Pier Road caused damage to twelve boats. One man was critically injured when his boat was flipped.

8. Aug 14, 2004Hurricane (Typhoon), Tyrrell$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tropical Storm Charley moved northeast across the Coastal Plains of Eastern North Carolina during the afternoon hours on August 14th. Onslow county received the most damage, with estimates over 5 million dollars, as winds gusted to near hurricane force toppling trees and power lines with structural damage to homes and businesses. Winds gusted from 60-70 mph across Inland areas near the center of the storm resulting in wind damage to structures, and damage to crops reaching into the millions. Winds gusted from 40 to 50 mph across locations across Eastern North Carolina with minor wind damage reported. Storm surge values were highest along the Onslow County coastline where a 2 to 3…

9. Sep 4, 1996Hurricane (Typhoon), Tyrrell$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Fran moved onshore near Cape Fear Thursday evening (9/6) and raced north toward Raleigh cutting a swath of destruction. The Category 3 hurricane destroyed or damaged 90% of the homes in North Topsail Beach. The town hall and police station were destroyed. A 15 foot storm surge cut a 100-foot-wide inlet through thye middle of the island. A Camp Lejeune-based Marine lost his life when he and two others mistakenly drove onto the island at the height of the storm. State Route 1568 was washed out and NC210 was covered with sand. Damage in North Topsail and Onslow County alone exceeds $500 million as 6,688 structures were destroyed or damaged. In Carteret County, Emerald Isle…

10. Aug 26, 1998Tornado$40,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A tornado touchdown in Gum Neck about 13 miles southeast of Columbia damaged 2 storage buildings and tossed them 100 yards. A couple of farm sheds were damaged and several large trees were down on homes. The tornado also destroyed a power transformer on Highway 41.

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

104°F2 times, most recently Jul 23, 1952

All-time low

2°FJan 7, 2018

Warmest night

83°FJul 8, 2012

Coldest day

21°FJan 11, 1982

Wettest day

8.52 inSep 5, 1979

Snowiest day

15.0 inMar 2, 1980

Hottest year

2012mean 64.6°F

Coldest year

1958mean 58.7°F

Wettest year

201863.95 in

Driest year

200725.58 in

Snowiest season

39.0 in1979-80

Station Elizabeth City Cgas (USW00013786), 6 ft elevation, 25.4 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 26, 2026; 95.1% 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.

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.

Neighbouring counties

• 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 USW00013786.
• 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.