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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Aberdeen, MD

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

33 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Aberdeen, Maryland since 1851, 3 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 87 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
3

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
30

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
87

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
0

2 deaths in all

What the records show for Aberdeen

The strongest storm to pass near Aberdeen was an unnamed storm in 1878, a Category 1 hurricane with 89 mph winds when its centre passed 30 miles away. The record near Aberdeen begins with an unnamed storm in 1861; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 9 miles away. The 1870s and the 1950s were the busiest decades, with 4 systems each. Of the 33 systems, 5 have come since 2000. Aberdeen has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 14% of the 239 Maryland cities on this site. The highest rating among the 87 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2 or EF2, reached 13 times; the most recent, on September 1, 2021, came within 21 miles. The deadliest, an EF1 on November 2, 2018, killed 2 people. Of the 87, 10 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 38 have come since 2000. June and July have had the most tornadoes, 18 each. The most recent tornado was on May 16, 2025. Of the 239 Maryland cities, 55% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Aberdeen. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 54 times since 1980, with stones up to 2.25 inches. Of the 239 Maryland cities, 53% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Aberdeen.

Compare Aberdeen's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Aberdeen

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Aberdeen, Maryland, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2021IdaSep 19 miTropical storm (39 mph)Category 4
2020IsaiasAug 417 miTropical storm (66 mph)Category 1
2012SandyOct 3026 miTropical storm (64 mph)Category 3
2008HannaSep 650 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
2006ErnestoSep 228 miTropical storm (43 mph)Category 1
1996BerthaJul 1349 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1992DanielleSep 2616 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1971DoriaAug 2871 miTropical storm (67 mph)Tropical storm
1960BrendaJul 3070 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1955DianeAug 1826 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 2
1955ConnieAug 1332 miTropical storm (56 mph)Category 4
1954HazelOct 1563 miCategory 1 (82 mph)Category 4
1952AbleSep 130 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1949Unnamed 1949 stormAug 2963 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 4
1944Unnamed 1944 stormAug 361 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1943Unnamed 1943 stormOct 133 miTropical storm (41 mph)Tropical storm
1934Unnamed 1934 stormJun 192 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1933Unnamed 1933 stormAug 2450 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 4
1929Unnamed 1929 stormOct 215 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 4
1924Unnamed 1924 stormSep 3074 miTropical storm (72 mph)Category 1
1915Unnamed 1915 stormAug 416 miTropical storm (49 mph)Category 1
1904Unnamed 1904 stormSep 1567 miCategory 1 (74 mph)Category 1
1903Unnamed 1903 stormSep 1674 miTropical storm (72 mph)Category 2
1899Unnamed 1899 stormNov 1overheadTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1893Unnamed 1893 stormOct 2344 miTropical storm (44 mph)Tropical storm
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2926 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 1158 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1878Unnamed 1878 stormOct 2330 miCategory 1 (89 mph)Category 2
1877Unnamed 1877 stormOct 462 miTropical storm (68 mph)Category 3
1874Unnamed 1874 stormSep 2954 miTropical storm (59 mph)Category 1
1872Unnamed 1872 stormOct 2653 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1863Unnamed 1863 stormSep 1957 miTropical storm (55 mph)Tropical storm
1861Unnamed 1861 stormSep 2867 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 1

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Aberdeen: 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 Aberdeen

By decade

  • 2020s11
  • 2010s14
  • 2000s13
  • 1990s28
  • 1980s4
  • 1970s13
  • 1960s1
  • 1950s3
Strongest tornadoes near Aberdeen, Maryland
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Sep 1, 2021EF221 mi5.92 mi0 / 0
Aug 4, 2020EF223 mi35.78 mi0 / 0
Sep 18, 2004F217 mi2 mi0 / 0
May 2, 2002F214 mi4.5 mi0 / 0
Jul 27, 1994F215 mi4 mi0 / 0
Sep 27, 1993F223 mi10 mi0 / 0
May 15, 1981F220 mi1.5 mi0 / 2
Jun 29, 1980F21 mi2 mi0 / 10
Sep 5, 1979F213 mi0.5 mi0 / 0
Mar 21, 1976F224 mi0.2 mi0 / 0
Jun 16, 1973F225 mi0.1 mi0 / 4
Jul 19, 1959F23 mi0.8 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 87, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Aberdeen

The Storm Prediction Center has 54 hail reports within 10 miles of Aberdeen since 1980, made on 37 separate days. Of these, 37 were 1 inch across or larger, and 2 reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.25 inches, fell on August 18, 2011. The most recent report is from September 6, 2025. June and August have the most reports, 11 each.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.

Radar-estimated hail days in Aberdeen since 2019 →

Weather by month in Aberdeen

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Aberdeen Phillips Field, MD, 3 miles south of Aberdeen at 57 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 42°F and 25°F. July and September are the wettest at 4.8 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 47.2 inches. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (25.6 of 47.2 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 33 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (12); a normal September there has highs of 78°F and 4.8 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 26 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 83 nights a year. That 47.2 inches is more than at 26 of the 41 Maryland stations used on this site (63%). Perryville, 8 miles northeast, has its own station (Conowingo Dam, MD): 48.2 inches a year, 1.0 more than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 86°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Chesapeake City, MD, 20 miles east, averaged 84°F in July and 38°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Chesapeake City tide gauge, 20 miles from Aberdeen, has risen 1.76 ± 0.12 inches per decade from 1972 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 17.6 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 111 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Aberdeen Phillips Field, MD
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inWater °F
Jan42253.338
Feb44272.839
Mar53334.146
Apr65433.557
May73534.067
Jun82624.376
Jul86684.884
Aug84664.282
Sep78594.876
Oct67474.265
Nov56373.353
Dec46303.942
Year654647.260

Averages for 1991–2020 at Aberdeen Phillips Field, MD (57 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Chesapeake City, MD, from NOAA Tides & Currents. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.

Maryland weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Aberdeen

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 451 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Aberdeen: 302 thunderstorm wind reports, 93 flash floods, 49 floods and 7 lightning strikes. They killed 2 people and injured 18, and the NWS estimated $3.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 85 mph, on May 11, 2013. August has had the most flash floods, 38 of 93. Of the 239 Maryland cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 174 have had fewer than Aberdeen.

  • August 31, 2018: flash flood 5 miles from the centre of Aberdeen — 2 killed.

  • August 18, 2017: lightning strike 9 miles from the centre of Aberdeen — 10 injured.

  • June 29, 2012: thunderstorm wind 8 miles from the centre of Aberdeen — 2 injured, $500,000 damage.

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 Aberdeen's ZIP code 21001 have filed 73 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $890,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Isabel in 2003: 21 claims (29% of all) and $628,000. 49% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 150 Maryland cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 99 have fewer than Aberdeen.

Flood insurance claims in Aberdeen by named event
EventClaimsPaid
Hurricane Isabel200321$628,000

Harford County, which includes Aberdeen, has been named in 20 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1971, 13 of them major disasters (by incident: 7 hurricanes, 6 snowstorms, 3 floods, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on March 26, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Harford County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for hurricanes, inland flooding, strong wind, lightning and heat waves; Relatively Low for tornadoes and coastal flooding; Very Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $51.4 million a year, the 7th highest of 24 Maryland counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $29.9 million (58%), 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 Aberdeen