North Carolina tops for weather disasters? (Ruth, Speed: new house, tornado, earthquake)

[sheena]

Originally Posted by mm34b

Got your NOAA All-Hazards radio yet? North Carolina is one of the few states that require them in all public schools.

http://www.magazine.noaa.gov/stories/mag217.htm

I got mine last week, when we had the tornado watch in Charlotte. LOL

[sheena]

Originally Posted by Carolina_native

While many tout NC's weather for being great, it actually has its downfalls as many times as it isnt mentioned.

Yes we have tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, blizzards, etc. A state with such diverse geography has very diverse weather. Like warm weather? Well with warm weather of spring brings the Carolina storms.

How are these Spring storms? Really bad? If bad what's bad? Lots of rain? Wind speeds?

[mm34b]

Originally Posted by sheena

How are these Spring storms? Really bad? If bad what's bad? Lots of rain? Wind speeds?

I haven't seen that much about springtime thunderstorms. Summertime is another story. The state climatologists say the Sandhills region is NC's Thunderstorm Central. North Carolina's Sandhills cover parts of Moore, Montgomery, Richmond, Scotland, Hoke, Cumberland, Harnett, and Lee counties.

[vetegnc]

I think part of it is probably having major hurricanes hitting the east coast, and then hurricanes from the gulf tracking upland thru the west side of NC. Remember a couple of years ago the severe mud slides on the western side (near asheville maybe?). Double whammy in hurricane season!

[YorkshireLass]

Having lived in NC most of my years, I've seen quite a bit of what Mother Nature dishes out to us. I was in Rutherford County when Hugo slammed into the state and our area was among those that felt some of the effects though not as much as Charlotte and the surrounding areas. During my time in the Winston Salem area I was surprised by the tornado activity in the surrounding counties/cities with Spring always being the most active. I lived in the area from '95-'00 and we would have at least one tornado touchdown in the area every year. In 2000 I moved to Charlotte and was "lucky" enough to experience the ice storm that hit in '03 (does anybody else remember how long they were without power? ). When we moved back to Rutherford County in '04 (after spending 6 mos living in middle Tenn) I felt I was a "seasoned" severe weather survivor. The neighborhood we lived in Tenn had been hit by a Tornado every year for the past 4 years prior to our move . That particular area of Tenn was so bad that when my husband and I tried to get rental insurance on the home that we were leasing during our stay we couldn't because the home was in a "target" neighborhood and had 3 claims in the past 5 years. Life in RC has been mild. Our springtime storms can be a little violent (we had hail the size of golf balls last year, but it only lasted for about 5 minutes and it was the first time in my 37 years I'd ever REALLY seen hail). In December '05 we had a pretty nasty ice storm that knocked out power and caused some damage but other than that our area is pretty mild...I guess that's thanks to the Isothermal belt. The geographical diversity of NC is what makes (imo) our state so appealing and with that diversity comes all that mother nature has to offer both the good and bad. Each state has it's own weather problems as well as each county/region within that state and as a resident you learn to anticipate what's coming your way.

Thanks for listening to my ramble. Sometimes I enjoy the forum a little too much...

[MariGirl]

We have lived in central NC a long time, and have seen just about every variety of bad weather come through here.
In the 90's, Hurricane Fran passed directly over central NC, including the Triangle and did alot of damage. We were without power for a week, and some much longer. Huge old trees were uprooted and buildings/homes damaged. Flooding is not an issue for us here in Lee county, but I know that parts of Wake and points East do experience it at times with the storms.
Tornados that do some damage come through about once a year on average. Not killer tornados (although there was one in the late '80's up in Raleigh that destroyed a WalMart on Glenwood Ave., and also a few related deaths - not at the WalMart, it came through at nite!), but enough to knock out power and down trees.
Ice storms are the worst in my opinion, but thankfully we haven't had one for a couple of years. These wreak havoc with everything, utilities, traffic, schools, etc. In the 20 years we've lived here, there have been quite a few.
An inch or two of snow will also create a lot of problems and (much to the kids delight) close schools until buses can run safely on all roads.
Keep in mind that NC is a large state with varied terrain and the variety of weather patterns reflects this.

[Bethanytedder]

The worse tornado outbreak I remember is those that hit on March 28, 1984. There was several deaths associated with these and I believe there was 6 or 7 deaths in Greene County where I am alone.
We also were hit hard by Hurricane Hazel in 1954, and from 1996-1999, we were hit 6 times by a hurricane or tropical storm. Bertha came in July, 1996 followed by Cat. 3 Fran six weeks later. A lot of people didn't even have Bertha's damage fixed before Fran hit. Then Bonnie came in 1998 followed by Hurricane Dennis in mid August 1999. This storm did a loop-de-loop and went out towards Bermuda and finally came back to NC in the form of a tropical storm on August 30, 1999. This laid the ground work for Floyd which caused major flooding throughout the eastern part of the state. Since 2000, the storms we have had, Isabella, Ophelia and Ernesto have not been that bad and last year no one and I mean no in the whole United States had a landfalling hurricane. The closest thing was 70 MPH Ernesto that came in through Wilmington but it was a mere baby compared to the others. Last year we were in a El Nino cycle that is now gone. So there is no telling what will happen this year. Also since around 1990, we have entered a more active hurricane phase that will probably last for another 20 years. The predictions are the storms will be more and stronger than what we experienced say from 1970-1989. A lot of the problems with the hurricanes come from tornadoes spawned by them or flooding. Hurricane Floyd itself was not that big of a wind maker. What got the majority of us was the ground was wet and spongy from the two hits off Dennis before Floyd and the ground couldn't handle it. So we flooded. All 42 counties in the eastern part of the state had areas of flooding and a lot of people lost everything they hit. Princeville in Edgecombe County isn't it, was really hit hard. Even Pres. Clinton came to Tarboro to check out the damage. But all there was to see was water everywhere. I believe there were 52 deaths in North Carolina associated with Floyd. But like someone said, the state is so wide that if you get past Raleigh generally speaking, the hurricanes are that big of a problem, most of the time. Raleigh was hit hard by Hurricane Fran in 1996. Also the Florida hurricanes, Jeanne, Ivan, Charlie and some of the others along that time took a wider sweep into North Carolina and areas like Asheville that normally never see hurricane damage experienced it for the some people the first time that they could remember. So never say never. But generally speaking, the further west you are in North Carolina, the less likely you will suffer major hurricane damage. But don't think that it is impossible because it can happen.

[njprintman]

No matter where you live............you are gonna have weather problems.
What is your preference?
Rain, tornado, hurricane, flood, fire, snow, heat?
Horror stories from all parts of the country.
I do believe that if a BIG ONE (whatever that is) is gonna hit you.........it's gonna hit you. Don't care where you live.
Me? I'm coming to NC. I'm gonna be warm. I won't see two feet of snow every time I get out of bed to go to work.
Me? I'm coming to NC. I'm gonna be warm. I won't see 20 degree weather for 10/15 straight days..........then warm up to 30 degrees.
If a hurricane, fire, tornado or whatever hits..........the good Lord will help me survive or I'll perish.
That is the way life is. At least enjoy what and where you WANT TO BE.
BUT
I'll be warm.
Denny / Woodlynne NJ

[magellan]

Originally Posted by njprintman

No matter where you live............you are gonna have weather problems.
What is your preference?
Rain, tornado, hurricane, flood, fire, snow, heat?
Horror stories from all parts of the country.
I do believe that if a BIG ONE (whatever that is) is gonna hit you.........it's gonna hit you. Don't care where you live.
Me? I'm coming to NC. I'm gonna be warm. I won't see two feet of snow every time I get out of bed to go to work.
Me? I'm coming to NC. I'm gonna be warm. I won't see 20 degree weather for 10/15 straight days..........then warm up to 30 degrees.
If a hurricane, fire, tornado or whatever hits..........the good Lord will help me survive or I'll perish.
That is the way life is. At least enjoy what and where you WANT TO BE.
BUT
I'll be warm.
Denny / Woodlynne NJ

The reason I raised this topic is that it looks like a lot of the coastline states are getting slammed, and I was wondering if those $Billions in damage shown on the map in my first post were being transferred to homeowners. We have severe weather here in Michigan occasionally like snow storms, ice storms and thunderstorms, but they don't cause even millions in damage (if anything). And I've never seen a tornado in my 30+ years in Michigan. It sounds like it's mainly along the Atlantic coast that gets hardest hit.

Just curious, but the feedback so far has been helpful. Thanks again!

[njprintman]

Mag,
We are moving (hopefully) in about three months to Calabash NC (costal).
If Hurricane Sally or Benny hits ............ oh well.
I'm gonna be warm, safe from NJ corruption and taxes.
Sounds like a winner for me.