NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Huntersville, NC
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
31 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Huntersville, North Carolina since 1851, 1 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Debby in 2024. Since 1950, 90 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 1 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 1
- Tropical storms
- 30
- Tornadoes
- 90
- EF3 or stronger
- 1
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
3 deaths in all
What the records show for Huntersville
The strongest storm to pass near Huntersville was an unnamed storm in 1893, a Category 1 hurricane with 76 mph winds when its centre passed 20 miles away. The record near Huntersville begins with an unnamed storm in 1859; the most recent system was Debby in 2024, a tropical storm 64 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1880s, with 5 systems. Of the 31 systems, 6 have come since 2000. Of the 475 North Carolina cities on this site, 65% have more hurricanes within 75 miles than Huntersville. The strongest of the 90 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F3 on March 27, 1994; its path came within 13 miles. The deadliest, an EF1 on January 9, 2024, killed 1 person. Of the 90, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 43 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 25. The most recent tornado was on May 3, 2025. Huntersville has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 85% of the 475 North Carolina cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 118 times since 1955, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). Huntersville has more hail reports within 10 miles than 89% of the 475 North Carolina cities.
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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Huntersville
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | DebbyAug 8 | 64 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2021 | ElsaJul 8 | 72 mi | Tropical storm (48 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2021 | ClaudetteJun 21 | 68 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2020 | ZetaOct 29 | 69 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 3 |
| 2018 | MichaelOct 11 | 27 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 5 |
| 2006 | AlbertoJun 14 | 73 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1989 | HugoSep 22 | 28 mi | Tropical storm (72 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1985 | BobJul 25 | 28 mi | Tropical storm (47 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1979 | DavidSep 5 | 25 mi | Tropical storm (49 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1965 | Unnamed 1965 stormJun 16 | 72 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1959 | GracieSep 30 | 32 mi | Tropical storm (47 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1952 | AbleAug 31 | 15 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1949 | Unnamed 1949 stormAug 28 | 30 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1935 | Unnamed 1935 stormSep 6 | 74 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1929 | Unnamed 1929 stormOct 2 | 70 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1927 | Unnamed 1927 stormOct 3 | 9 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1916 | Unnamed 1916 stormJul 15 | 74 mi | Tropical storm (54 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormAug 3 | 6 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1912 | Unnamed 1912 stormJun 14 | 59 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1907 | Unnamed 1907 stormSep 23 | 31 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormOct 11 | 41 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormJun 16 | 69 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormOct 4 | 74 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 28 | 20 mi | Category 1 (76 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1889 | Unnamed 1889 stormSep 24 | 33 mi | Tropical storm (48 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormSep 10 | 70 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1886 | Unnamed 1886 stormJun 22 | 7 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1885 | Unnamed 1885 stormOct 13 | 60 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1882 | Unnamed 1882 stormSep 11 | 8 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1878 | Unnamed 1878 stormSep 12 | 52 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1859 | Unnamed 1859 stormSep 17 | 15 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 Huntersville: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Huntersville
By decade
- 2020s14
- 2010s12
- 2000s17
- 1990s15(1 EF3+)
- 1980s4
- 1970s18
- 1960s7
- 1950s3
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 27, 1994 | F3 | 13 mi | 18.5 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Feb 6, 2020 | EF2 | 18 mi | 6.19 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 3, 2012 | EF2 | 15 mi | 2.94 mi | 0 / 4 |
| May 9, 2008 | EF2 | 6 mi | 18.21 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 15, 2006 | F2 | 14 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 7, 2004 | F2 | 23 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 27, 1994 | F2 | 21 mi | 45.4 mi | 0 / 13 |
| Mar 10, 1992 | F2 | 19 mi | 3.4 mi | 0 / 18 |
| May 28, 1973 | F2 | 8 mi | 9.6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 7, 1968 | F2 | 16 mi | 16.7 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 12, 1965 | F2 | 8 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 9, 2024 | EF1 | 24 mi | 9.02 mi | 1 / 4 |
The strongest 12 of 90, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Huntersville
The Storm Prediction Center has 118 hail reports within 10 miles of Huntersville since 1955, made on 84 separate days. Of these, 58 were 1 inch across or larger, and 2 reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.75 inches (baseball size), fell on May 7, 1998. The most recent report is from June 26, 2023. May and June have the most reports, 35 each.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Huntersville
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Charlotte Douglas Airport, NC, 14 miles south of Huntersville at 728 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 90°F and low of 70°F; January is the coolest, at 52°F and 32°F. August is the wettest at 4.4 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.1 inches; the year adds up to 43.7 inches over 73 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 51% of the year's precipitation (22.3 of 43.7 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 31 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (10); a normal September there has highs of 83°F and 3.7 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 49 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 58 nights a year. Snowfall averages 3.5 inches a year, most of it in January. That 43.7 inches is more than at 9 of the 140 North Carolina stations used on this site (6%). Davidson, 6 miles north, has its own station (Concord, NC): 47.8 inches a year, 4.1 more than here, and a July average high of 92°F against 90°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 52 | 32 | 3.5 | 7 | 1.6 |
| Feb | 57 | 35 | 3.1 | 6 | 1.1 |
| Mar | 64 | 41 | 4.0 | 7 | 0.3 |
| Apr | 73 | 49 | 3.8 | 6 | 0.0 |
| May | 80 | 58 | 3.4 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 87 | 66 | 4.0 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 90 | 70 | 3.7 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 89 | 69 | 4.4 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 83 | 63 | 3.7 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 73 | 50 | 3.2 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Nov | 63 | 40 | 3.3 | 5 | 0.1 |
| Dec | 55 | 35 | 3.6 | 6 | 0.4 |
| Year | 72 | 51 | 43.7 | 73 | 3.5 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Charlotte Douglas Airport, NC (728 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 Huntersville
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 183 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Huntersville: 144 thunderstorm wind reports, 24 flash floods, 9 floods and 6 lightning strikes. They killed 2 people and injured 8, and the NWS estimated $35.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on August 4, 1997. June has had the most flash floods, 6 of 24. Of the 472 North Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 328 have had fewer than Huntersville.
June 20, 2015: thunderstorm wind 10 miles from the centre of Huntersville — 1 killed.
July 5, 2020: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Huntersville — 1 killed.
May 2, 2003: thunderstorm wind in Huntersville — 3 injured, $25,000 damage.
NWS: “Numerous trees and power lines were blown down. A tree fell through a mobile home, resulting in serious injuries to 2 people, and minor injuries to a third.”
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 Huntersville's ZIP code 28078 have filed 19 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 2003, and were paid $710,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 42% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 263 North Carolina cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 59 have fewer than Huntersville.
Mecklenburg County, which includes Huntersville, has been named in 18 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1977, 7 of them major disasters (by incident: 7 hurricanes, 3 tropical storms, 2 biological emergencies, 2 snowstorms). The latest major disaster declaration was Tropical Storm Helene, on September 28, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Mecklenburg County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for tornadoes, hail, inland flooding, strong wind and lightning; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $318.0 million a year, the highest of 100 North Carolina counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $256.4 million (81%), 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.
Cities near Huntersville
- Cornelius, NC5 mi
- Davidson, NC6 mi
- Denver, NC10 mi
- Mount Holly, NC11 mi
- Mooresville, NC12 mi
- Stanley, NC12 mi
- Harrisburg, NC12 mi
- Charlotte, NC14 mi
- Sherrills Ford, NC14 mi
- Concord, NC14 mi
- Kannapolis, NC15 mi
- Iron Station, NC15 mi
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