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Isaias’s Coastal Hit a Turning Point for NC Storms, Preparedness

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A photo of the Pigeon River rushing past a home during Tropical Storm Fred

Aug 17, 2026

For Haywood County, Five Years of Heartache Started With Fred

Folks in western North Carolina could be forgiven if time has become a blur. After all, they’ve endured a lifetime of pain and problems in the past five years. Perhaps nowhere has endured more devastating events in that time than Haywood County, a vibrant corner of the state dotted with mile-high mountains, winding rivers, and…
A photo of a roaring waterfall at Cooleemee Falls

Jul 27, 2026

Rapid Reaction: Heavy Rains Return, Promising Drought Relief

Our wettest rain event in more than a year soaked the state from north to south last week, quenching some drought-affected areas and potentially serving as a sign of things to come later this year. A frontal boundary from the north slowly sagged southward across the state from last Wednesday afternoon through Saturday night. At…
A photo of Rhodhiss Dam in 1926

Apr 30, 2026

A Century-Old Drought Offers Parallels to Today

As we remain mired in our worst statewide drought in more than 18 years, comparisons with historical droughts — especially that memorable 2007-08 event — have become common in recent weeks, including in our own assessment of the current drought and its impacts. We’ve generally labeled the 2007-08 drought as the worst in North Carolina’s…
A photo of a snowplow in deep snow outside the National Weather Service office in Newport, NC

Feb 2, 2026

Rapid Reaction: A Statewide Snowstorm for the Ages

Accumulating snow fell all across North Carolina last weekend in our most widespread wintry event in more than a dozen years, and the biggest snow for some areas in several decades. While this event had a classic Carolina snowstorm setup, it was anything but a garden variety winter storm, following an ideal pattern for significant…
A photo of ice-covered trees in Transylvania County on January 25, 2026

Jan 26, 2026

Rapid Reaction: Weekend Winter Storm Brings Icy Glaze, But Few Outages

A winter storm with an icy, damaging history dealt a relatively minor blow to North Carolina last weekend, leaving a slippery glaze but limited power outages in its wake. After an Arctic front arrived on Friday night to set up a frigid air mass – including afternoon temperatures only in the 20s on Saturday –…
A photo of snow on the ground and on a decorated tree next to the Pasquotank River in Elizabeth City

Dec 18, 2025

A Dream Come True: Remembering Our White Christmas in 2010

One of North Carolina’s rarest weather events became a reality 15 years ago as a White Christmas unfolded across the state. A two-part event on December 25 and 26, 2010, left snow falling in all 100 counties and more than a foot on the ground in parts of the Mountains and northern Coastal Plain. With…
An aerial view of flooding west of Asheville after Hurricane Helene

Sep 25, 2025

One Year After Helene, New Perspectives on Our Worst Storms

The sights and stories that slowly trickled out of western North Carolina last September were so shocking, they were at times hard to believe. Swollen rivers practically wiped out charming mountain towns such as Chimney Rock, Lake Lure, and Swannanoa. The death toll climbed across Buncombe County as search and rescue teams surveyed areas hit…
A photo of waves crashing into homes in Buxton during Hurricane Erin

Aug 22, 2025

Rapid Reaction: Hurricane Erin a Close Call with Coastal Damage

The first hurricane – and the first major hurricane – of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season passed off our coastline this week, and despite not making a direct landfall, it still had big impacts in parts of eastern North Carolina. Over the warm water in the central Atlantic Ocean, Hurricane Erin became a formidable storm,…
A photo of boats piled up at the marina in Southport following Hurricane Isaias

Aug 5, 2025

Isaias’s Coastal Hit a Turning Point for NC Storms, Preparedness

Five years ago, an overactive Atlantic brought an early-season hurricane to North Carolina’s doorstep. Just after 11 pm on August 3, 2020, Hurricane Isaias made landfall as a Category-1 storm near Ocean Isle Beach along our southern coastline. Sneaking in overnight during a year dominated by other big news stories, Isaias and its impacts weren’t…