Live
Active alerts for this county
Gaston County, North Carolina severe weather history spans 498 recorded events between 1955 and 2026. The dominant hazard is thunderstorm wind, accounting for 52.2% of all recorded events. It ranks #883 nationally and #31 in North Carolina.
498
Recorded events
6
Direct deaths
27
Direct injuries
$16.3M
Property damage
The record
What the Gaston County, North Carolina severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Gaston County, North Carolina severe weather history averages 7.0 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2000s, with 158 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 67 events fall before 1990 and 431 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The deadliest hazard in the Gaston County, North Carolina record is thunderstorm wind, responsible for 4 direct deaths. The costliest is tornado, with $11.5M in reported property damage. In total, 7 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Gaston County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 260 | 4 | $884K | 75 | 1955–2026 |
| Hail | 169 | 0 | $300K | 4.5 | 1962–2025 |
| Tornado | 19 | 1 | $11.5M | F1 | 1956–2024 |
| Lightning | 19 | 0 | $533K | 0 | 1996–2014 |
| Flash Flood | 15 | 0 | $133K | 0 | 1996–2024 |
| Flood | 11 | 1 | $2.9M | 0 | 1997–2021 |
| Heavy Rain | 5 | 0 | $5K | 0 | 2003–2012 |
Decade by decade
Gaston County, North Carolina severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
21 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 17 touched down inside it and 4 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994-03-27 | EF3 | 0 | 2 | 18.5 mi | Crossed in |
| 2020-02-06 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 8.7 mi | Crossed in |
| 2008-05-09 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 18.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 1994-03-27 | EF2 | 0 | 13 | 45.4 mi | Crossed in |
| 1974-04-02 | EF1 | 1 | 10 | 9.7 mi | Touched down here |
| 2024-05-08 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 21.3 mi | Crossed in |
| 2024-05-08 | EF1 | 0 | 2 | 8.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 2010-03-28 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 2006-01-13 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 mi | Touched down here |
| 2006-05-26 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 2.2 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Gaston County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 23, 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | SOUTH GASTONIA | 2 | 1 | $0 |
| Apr 2, 1974 | Tornado | 1 | 10 | $250K | |
| May 8, 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | MOUNTIAN VIEW | 1 | 1 | $20K |
| Jul 5, 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | DUKE POWER VLG | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Jun 9, 2019 | Flood | SPENCER MTN | 1 | 0 | $10K |
| Feb 22, 2003 | Lightning | GASTONIA | 0 | 3 | $10K |
| May 8, 2024 | Tornado | GASTONIA | 0 | 2 | $200K |
| Aug 5, 1996 | Lightning | GASTONIA | 0 | 2 | $0 |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
County comms reported widespread straight-line wind damage to trees and power lines from the Kings Mountain and Bessemer City areas, across Gastonia to McAdenville. A 62-year-old woman was killed and another person injured when a tree fell on a parked vehicle at South New Hope Rd and Dixon Rd in Gastonia. The screen of an outdoor theater was destroyed in McAdenville.
A stream gauge on the South Fork Catawba River at Lowell exceeded its established flood stage after heavy rain fell throughout the Catawba River basin on the 8th and 9th. The stream eventually reached moderate flood stage on the 10th. Multiple roads flooded along the river in Cramerton and McAdenville. Media reported a 14-year-old boy drowned when he went swimming in the swollen river in the area around the Stanley-Spencer Mountain Rd bridge during the evening of the 10th.
A tornado track began just southeast of Gastonia and continued well into Mecklenburg County on the northwest side of Charlotte. Where the tornado first touched down, part of the roof was blown off the roof of an office building near the intersection of Union Rd and Garrison Bvd. The tornado continued east-northeast to the Garrison Blvd, S New Hope Rd area, where numerous homes and businesses received minor to moderate roof damage and numerous large trees were uprooted. The tornado produced sporadic, mainly minor damage as it moved through McAdenville, where it crossed I-85, blowing several cars off the interstate. The most significant damage was observed in the Catawba Heights/ Belmont area, near I-85, where much of the metal roof was peeled from a large wharehouse, causing 7 million dollars in damage. Another industrial business in this area lost most of its roof.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Relatively Moderate
FEMA NRI risk rating
234,881
Population (ACS)
$266K
Median home value
20
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 24, 2026 | Winter Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORM | EM |
| Sep 28, 2024 | Tropical Storm | TROPICAL STORM HELENE | DR |
| Sep 26, 2024 | Tropical Storm | HURRICANE HELENE | EM |
| Oct 1, 2022 | Hurricane | HURRICANE IAN | EM |
| Aug 2, 2020 | Hurricane | HURRICANE ISAIAS | EM |
| May 8, 2020 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES, AND FLOODING | DR |
Within the county
Most affected places
- Gastonia 112
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Gaston County, North Carolina?
498 events are on record between 1955 and 2026, causing 6 direct deaths and $16.3M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Gaston County?
Thunderstorm Wind, with 260 recorded events — 52.2% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Gaston County?
21 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 17 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Gaston County?
20 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Gaston County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Gaston County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Gaston County as relatively moderate risk, placing it in the 85 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Gaston County, North Carolina severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- Franklin County 379
- Gates County 176
- Forsyth County 590
- Graham County 136
- Edgecombe County 290
- Granville County 297
Cite this page
“Gaston County, North Carolina.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/north-carolina/gaston-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.