Hurricanes that hit Rowan County, North Carolina: hurricane history

28 storms have passed within 50 km of Rowan County from 1859 to 2024, coloured by intensity on the map.

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Years1842 to 2026
Ocean basin

Choosing a minimum category hides storms with no wind speed in the record. To see which storms have passed near you, search a town or ZIP code, or tap the map.

Key
  • Tropical depression Winds below 34 knots (39 mph)
  • Tropical storm 34 to 63 knots (39 to 73 mph)
  • Category 1 64 to 82 knots (74 to 95 mph)
  • Category 2 83 to 95 knots (96 to 110 mph)
  • Category 3 96 to 112 knots (111 to 129 mph), major
  • Category 4 113 to 136 knots (130 to 156 mph), major
  • Category 5 137 knots (157 mph) or more, major
  • Unknown intensity No wind speed in the record
  • Post-tropical Storm has become post-tropical (dashed line)

How to read the lines. Each line is the track of one storm, drawn through its six-hourly positions and coloured by its intensity at each point (the Saffir-Simpson scale), so a line changes colour as the storm strengthens or weakens. Tap a line for its details, or tap anywhere else to see which storms have passed nearby. Weaker storms appear as you zoom in. Hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones are the same kind of storm with different names in different oceans.

Storms near Rowan County

The record holds 28 tropical cyclones whose tracks passed within 50 km of Rowan County, North Carolina between 1859 and 2024. The busiest month is August, with 9 of them. The strongest, measured where each came closest to the place, reached category 1 strength. 2 of the storms have no wind speed in the record.

  • 28storms within 50 km
  • 0major (category 3 to 5) near here
  • 1at category 1 strength or more

A storm counts once, however many times it came close. The category is the storm's strongest point within 50 km, which can be weaker than its peak elsewhere.

How strong were the storms near Rowan County?

Category near hereStormsShare
Tropical depression829%
Tropical storm1761%
Category 114%
Category 200%
Category 300%
Category 400%
Category 500%
Unknown intensity27%

The agency behind most of the intensity figures here is the NOAA National Hurricane Center (HURDAT2, Atlantic).

Rowan County storms over time

Storms by decade
Bar chart of storms by period. The most is 4 in 1880s.1850s1870s1890s1920s1950s1970s1990s2010s

The 2020s only run to 2024, so that bar is for a shorter period. This place's record starts in 1859, and records before the satellite era (about the 1960s) are far less complete.

Show the numbers
PeriodCount
1850s1
1860s2
1870s1
1880s4
1890s2
1910s2
1920s2
1940s1
1950s2
1960s2
1970s1
1980s3
1990s1
2000s1
2010s1
2020s2

Earlier decades hold fewer storms partly because they were harder to see. Before weather satellites (about the 1960s) many storms that stayed at sea went unrecorded, so compare decades with care.

Storms by month
Bar chart of storms by period. The most is 9 in Aug.Jan0Feb0Mar0Apr0May1Jun3Jul2Aug9Sep9Oct4Nov0Dec0
Show the numbers
PeriodCount
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr0
May1
Jun3
Jul2
Aug9
Sep9
Oct4
Nov0
Dec0

Strongest storms near Rowan County

  • Unnamed storm of August 1893 (North Atlantic)15 August 1893 to 2 September 1893, Category 1 (75 kt) near here, peak Category 3 (105 kt), 954 hPa
  • Unnamed storm of September 1863 (North Atlantic)11 September 1863 to 20 September 1863, peak Tropical storm (60 kt)
  • Unnamed storm of September 1878 (North Atlantic)1 September 1878 to 13 September 1878, Tropical storm (60 kt) near here, peak Category 2 (90 kt), 970 hPa
  • Unnamed storm of September 1859 (North Atlantic)9 September 1859 to 22 September 1859, Tropical storm (50 kt) near here, peak Category 1 (70 kt)
  • Unnamed storm of August 1949 (North Atlantic)23 August 1949 to 1 September 1949, Tropical storm (50 kt) near here, peak Category 4 (115 kt), 954 hPa

Most recent storms near Rowan County

  • Debby (2024)2 August 2024 to 10 August 2024, Tropical storm (40 kt) near here, peak Category 1 (70 kt), 980 hPa
  • Bertha (2020)27 May 2020 to 28 May 2020, Tropical depression (25 kt) near here, peak Tropical storm (45 kt), 1,005 hPa
  • Michael (2018)6 October 2018 to 15 October 2018, Tropical storm (45 kt) near here, peak Category 4 (135 kt), 920 hPa

Many of these storms killed people and destroyed homes. The figures are the official record's, and this page says nothing about their human cost.

A storm that came near several counties counts in each one, so county counts add up to more than the state's.

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