Storm record · Pitt County
Hail is the recurring roof threat in Pitt County
What the public record says about roofs in Greenville and the rest of Pitt County
Largest hail in the record
Baseball · May 15, 2025
Hail events
28 at an inch or larger
Roof-relevant events recorded
2016–2026
Of the 102 roof-relevant storm events NOAA logged in Pitt County between 2016 and 2026, 30 were hail. 28 of those dropped stones an inch across or larger, which is roughly the size at which hail stops bouncing off an asphalt roof and starts bruising it. The largest on record fell on May 15, 2025: Baseball, measured at 2.50 in. A further 2 hail events came in under an inch.
Hail damage is the kind you cannot see from the driveway. A stone that size fractures the asphalt mat beneath the surface and knocks the protective granules loose; the shingle keeps its shape and keeps shedding water for a while afterwards, so a hail-struck roof usually looks fine from the ground and fails early instead. The things a homeowner can actually check are granule piles at the bottom of the downspout, and dents in the soft metal on the roof — vent caps, valley flashing, gutter aprons. Those dents matter because soft metal takes an impression at about the same stone size that damages a shingle, so they are the closest thing to a physical record of what hit the house.
Peak recorded gust
Jun 22, 2016
Reported property damage, county-wide
2016–2026
Most recent event in the record
Hail · Baseball
The $1,000 figure is NOAA's reported property damage for the whole of Pitt County from these storms, 2016–2026 — a county-wide reporting total. It is not the cost of a roof, and it is not an amount paid to any property owner.
Individual events in the Pitt County file
- May 15, 2025 -- Hail (Baseball hail, 2.50 in)
- Jun 5, 2017 -- Tornado (EF1)
- Jun 22, 2016 -- Thunderstorm Wind (72 kt gust)
Event descriptions as recorded in the NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.
Recorded events by year
19
’162016
2
’172017
3
’182018
10
’192019
4
’202020
7
’212021
13
’222022
23
’232023
6
’242024
14
’252025
1
’262026*
* 2026 is a partial year — the record runs to the most recent update of the source, not to the end of the year, so its bar is not comparable with the others. A year showing zero had no recorded hail, tornado or thunderstorm-wind event in this county.
The record next door
The communities nearest Greenville reach into 5 other counties, and those counties do not share Pitt County's record:
- Washington (Beaufort County) — 91 recorded events, including 6 tornadoes; most recent entry May 15, 2025 (Hail)
- Kinston (Lenoir County) — 55 recorded events; peak recorded gust 70 kt, May 23, 2022; most recent entry Jun 22, 2023 (Tornado)
- Wilson (Wilson County) — 95 recorded events; largest hail Baseball at 2.00 in, May 3, 2016; most recent entry Aug 8, 2024 (Tornado)
- Tarboro (Edgecombe County) — 57 recorded events, including 6 tornadoes; most recent entry May 13, 2025 (Tornado)
- Rocky Mount (Nash County) — 117 recorded events; largest hail Golf Ball at 1.75 in, Apr 7, 2022; most recent entry May 5, 2025 (Hail)
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 2016-2026, Pitt County (U.S. Government work, public domain). Counts cover roof-relevant event types only — hail, tornado and thunderstorm wind. Records are county-level; NOAA does not log these events by street address.