NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Greenville, SC
Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
18 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Greenville, South Carolina since 1851, 0 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Helene in 2024. Since 1950, 90 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 2 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 18
- Tornadoes
- 90
- EF3 or stronger
- 2
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
2 deaths in all
What the records show for Greenville
None of the 18 tropical systems was at hurricane strength as it passed Greenville; the strongest was Hugo in 1989, a tropical storm with 72 mph winds when its centre passed 66 miles away. The record near Greenville begins with an unnamed storm in 1859; the most recent system was Helene in 2024, a tropical storm 56 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1900s, with 4 systems. Of the 18 systems, 3 have come since 2000. Of the 246 South Carolina cities on this site, 87% have more tropical storms and hurricanes within 75 miles than Greenville. The highest rating among the 90 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 2 times; the most recent, on May 27, 1973, came within 3 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on May 10, 1952, killed 2 people. Of the 90, 10 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 47 have come since 2000. April has had the most tornadoes, 18. The most recent tornado was on May 3, 2025. Greenville has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 71% of the 246 South Carolina cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 248 times since 1959, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Greenville has more hail reports within 10 miles than 97% of the 246 South Carolina cities.
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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Greenville
Of the 18 tracks on the map, 9 were moving northeast as they passed Greenville, 4 northwest and 3 north. Hugo (1989), the strongest pass, was heading northwest; its centre passed 66 miles northeast of Greenville. None made landfall within 75 miles of Greenville; 15 of the 18 were hurricanes at their peak, none at their closest to the city. In the last 30 seasons (1996–2025), 3 came near Greenville: 1.0 a decade, against 1.0 a decade from 1851 to 1995.
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | HeleneSep 27 | 56 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2020 | ZetaOct 29 | 61 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 3 |
| 2018 | MichaelOct 11 | 64 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1989 | HugoSep 22 | 66 mi | Tropical storm (72 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1959 | GracieSep 30 | 60 mi | Tropical storm (49 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1949 | Unnamed 1949 stormAug 28 | 15 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1916 | Unnamed 1916 stormJul 15 | overhead | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormAug 3 | 61 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1912 | Unnamed 1912 stormJun 14 | 49 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1907 | Unnamed 1907 stormSep 23 | 12 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1906 | Unnamed 1906 stormSep 18 | 8 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormOct 11 | 17 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1901 | Unnamed 1901 stormSep 28 | 23 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormOct 3 | 66 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1889 | Unnamed 1889 stormSep 24 | 57 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1886 | Unnamed 1886 stormJun 22 | 50 mi | Tropical storm (44 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1882 | Unnamed 1882 stormSep 11 | 29 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1859 | Unnamed 1859 stormSep 17 | 29 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Greenville: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Greenville
By decade
- 2020s20
- 2010s16
- 2000s11
- 1990s18
- 1980s4
- 1970s8(1 EF3+)
- 1960s10
- 1950s3(1 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 10, 1952 | F3 | 8 mi | 22.7 mi | 2 / 4 |
| May 27, 1973 | F3 | 3 mi | 60.2 mi | 0 / 40 |
| Mar 23, 2022 | EF2 | 21 mi | 6.25 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 25, 2020 | EF2 | 3 mi | 5.47 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 13, 2020 | EF2 | 16 mi | 7.97 mi | 0 / 8 |
| Oct 23, 2017 | EF2 | 24 mi | 3.02 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Oct 8, 2017 | EF2 | 20 mi | 8.42 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 7, 1998 | F2 | 12 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 4 |
| Feb 21, 1997 | F2 | 24 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 27, 1994 | F2 | 24 mi | 45.4 mi | 0 / 13 |
| Apr 4, 1989 | F2 | 19 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 4, 1989 | F2 | 4 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 90, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Greenville
The Storm Prediction Center has 248 hail reports within 10 miles of Greenville since 1959, made on 134 separate days. Of these, 128 were 1 inch across or larger, and 11 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3 inches (tea cup size), fell on March 21, 2017. The most recent report is from June 25, 2025. May has the most reports, 62.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Greenville
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Greenville, SC, 2 miles southeast of Greenville at 960 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 52°F and 30°F. December is the wettest at 5.1 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.5 inches; the year adds up to 50.6 inches over 74 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 50% of the year's precipitation (25.3 of 50.6 inches). September has brought the most of the 18 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (9); a normal September there has highs of 80°F and 4.0 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 24 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 73 nights a year. That 50.6 inches is more than at 53 of the 78 South Carolina stations used on this site (68%). Taylors, 7 miles northeast, has its own station (Greenville Dwtn Airport, SC): 47.2 inches a year, 3.4 less than here, and a July average high of 91°F against 87°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 52 | 30 | 4.4 | 6 |
| Feb | 56 | 33 | 3.5 | 6 |
| Mar | 64 | 39 | 4.3 | 6 |
| Apr | 72 | 47 | 4.2 | 7 |
| May | 78 | 56 | 3.8 | 6 |
| Jun | 84 | 65 | 4.4 | 7 |
| Jul | 87 | 68 | 4.6 | 7 |
| Aug | 86 | 68 | 4.4 | 6 |
| Sep | 80 | 62 | 4.0 | 6 |
| Oct | 70 | 50 | 3.9 | 5 |
| Nov | 61 | 39 | 4.0 | 6 |
| Dec | 54 | 33 | 5.1 | 6 |
| Year | 70 | 49 | 50.6 | 74 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Greenville, SC (960 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Greenville
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 324 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Greenville: 274 thunderstorm wind reports, 28 flash floods, 16 floods, 4 heavy rain events and 2 lightning strikes. They killed 4 people and injured 5, and the NWS estimated $9.6 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 92 mph, on April 10, 2009. July has had the most flash floods, 7 of 28. Of the 241 South Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 215 have had fewer than Greenville.
August 9, 2014: flash flood in Greenville — 2 killed, $1.5 million damage.
NWS: “Three to six inches of rain falling in a couple of hours caused an extreme urban flash flood and stream flooding event in the Greenville metro area.”
September 27, 2024: flash flood 6 miles from the centre of Greenville — 1 killed, $300,000 damage.
August 20, 2006: thunderstorm wind 1 mile from the centre of Greenville — 1 killed.
NWS: “A large oak tree was blown down at Roper Mountain Rd and Blacks Dr. The tree fell on a moving vehicle, killing the 39-year-old man who was driving.”
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Flood insurance policyholders in Greenville's 7 ZIP codes have filed 570 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $10.2 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Helene in 2024: 105 claims (18% of all) and $3.0 million, then Hurricane Cindy in 2005 with 34. 26% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 110 South Carolina cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 91 have fewer than Greenville.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane Helene2024 | 105 | $3.0 million |
| Hurricane Cindy2005 | 34 | $350,000 |
Greenville County, which includes Greenville, has been named in 26 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1977, 10 of them major disasters (by incident: 11 hurricanes, 3 ice storms, 2 biological emergencies, 2 fires). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storm, on April 7, 2026. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Greenville County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for lightning; Relatively High for tornadoes, inland flooding and strong wind; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes, hail and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $169.0 million a year, the 6th highest of 46 South Carolina counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $104.5 million (62%), is from inland flooding.
Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. 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).
Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets 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).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.