47
Recorded events
3
Direct deaths
31
Direct injuries
$4.9M
Property damage
Tornado in Pender County, North Carolina: 47 recorded events between 1951 and 2025. The strongest on record measured F2. That places the county #432 nationally and #4 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Tornado in Pender County, North Carolina: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for tornado in Pender County is the 2010s, when 13 of the county's 47 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Pender County archive, tornado makes up 10.6% of all recorded severe weather across 12 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #432 for this hazard and #4 within North Carolina, putting it in the 85.1 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Apr is the peak month for tornado in Pender County with 15 recorded events, while Jan is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
| Date | Scale | Path length | Max width | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-08-13 | EF2 | 5.0 mi | 500 yd | Touched down here |
| 2024-08-07 | EF2 | 4.7 mi | 40 yd | Touched down here |
| 1969-08-05 | EF2 | 0.3 mi | 50 yd | Touched down here |
| 1965-07-15 | EF2 | 0.1 mi | 10 yd | Touched down here |
| 1964-10-04 | EF2 | 54.6 mi | 50 yd | Crossed in |
| 1954-11-02 | EF2 | 0.1 mi | 27 yd | Touched down here |
| 2025-03-16 | EF1 | 3.1 mi | 200 yd | Touched down here |
| 2020-04-13 | EF1 | 7.8 mi | 50 yd | Touched down here |
| 2020-04-13 | EF1 | 2.8 mi | 50 yd | Touched down here |
| 2020-04-13 | EF1 | 2.8 mi | 30 yd | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 13, 2004 | ROCKY PT | F2 | 3 | 29 | $1.3M |
| Oct 26, 1997 | PENDERLEA | F0 | 0 | 1 | $100K |
| Aug 10, 1955 | F1 | 0 | 1 | $25K |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 2025 | MALPASS CORNER | EF1 | $30K |
| Aug 7, 2024 | SHELTER NECK | EF0 | $0 |
| Aug 7, 2024 | PENDERLEA | EF0 | $0 |
| Sep 18, 2020 | VISTA | EF0 | $30K |
| Apr 13, 2020 | WHITE STOCKING | EF0 | $2K |
| Apr 13, 2020 | WALKERS STORE | EF1 | $25K |
| Apr 13, 2020 | BELLS XRDS | EF1 | $100K |
| Apr 13, 2020 | MONTAGUE | EF1 | $150K |
| Sep 5, 2019 | WHITE STOCKING | EF0 | $5K |
| Sep 5, 2019 | CLARKS LNDG | EF1 | $10K |
Other hazards here
More from Pender County
- Thunderstorm Wind 151
- Hail 126
- Flash Flood 66
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Tornado damage was observed in a half mile path starting in the |woods southeast of Great Oak Drive in the Deerfield community in|Hampstead NC. The EF-0 tornado moved across Great Oak Drive to East |Creek View Drive before it lifted over a tidal creek located |northwest of East Creek View Drive. The tornado mainly snapped |trees as it moved quickly toward the northwest. It flipped a boat |onto a car along East Creek View Drive and damaged a detached |garage. Before the tornado lifted it flipped a boat dock on the |tidal creek.
A tornado touched down on the east side of Beattys Bridge Road about|0.3 mile southeast of the intersection with Slocum Trail, breaking |numerous small limbs out of a few trees in the front yard of a |residence. Additionally, the roof of a camper, which was parked in |the yard, was blown off. The tornado lifted and touched down again as |it crossed over a cemetery at the intersection of Slocum Trail and |Beattys Bridge Road. It passed directly over a mobile home which was |occupied at the time. The tie down straps broke, and the mobile home |briefly lifted a few inches off the ground as the tornado passed over. |A shed on the property was destroyed and debris recovered nearly one-|quarter mile away. In the woods immediately west of the mobile home, |a few dozen hardwood trees up to 16 in diameter were snapped.
A National Weather Service Storm Survey Team concluded a tornado touched down 5 miles west-southwest of Watha in Pender County, North Carolina. The maximum wind speed was estimated to 90 mph. The path length was just over three miles and the maximum path width was 60 yards. The tornado first touched down near the fish hatchery on the south side of Shiloh Road. As the tornado moved across Shiloh Road, it uprooted and snapped several dozen trees. Several large trees fell across houses causing roof damage. Other houses suffered minor roof, soffit and siding damage. The damage was rated EF1 in this area with winds to 90 mph. The tornado continued to the northeast and weakened, but did damage the roof of another house on Shiloh Road. The tornado continued to the northeast, crossing Penderlea Highway where it did substantial damage to a large storage building, uprooted several trees and ripped the top off a grain silo. The tornado finally lifted northeast of Penderlea Highway.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many tornado events are on record in Pender County, North Carolina?
47 tornado events are recorded in Pender County between 1951 and 2025, causing 3 direct deaths.
What is the strongest tornado recorded in Pender County?
The strongest tornado on record in Pender County measured F2.
Where does the tornado data for Pender County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Tornado in Pender County, North Carolina.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/north-carolina/pender-county/tornado/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.