Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Annapolis, MD

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Baltimore Wash International Airport, MD, 17 miles northwest of Annapolis at 156 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 43°F and 25°F. July is the wettest at 4.5 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.9 inches; the year adds up to 45.0 inches over 75 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (24.0 of 45.0 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 41 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (14); a normal September there has highs of 80°F and 4.4 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 34 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 93 nights a year. Snowfall averages 19.3 inches a year, most of it in February. That 45.0 inches is more than at 15 of the 41 Maryland stations used on this site (37%). Edgewater, 5 miles southwest, has its own station (Upper Marlboro 3 NNW, MD): 45.1 inches a year, 0.1 more than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 89°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Annapolis, MD, under a mile east, averaged 85°F in July and 42°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Annapolis tide gauge, under a mile from Annapolis, has risen 1.52 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1928 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 15.2 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 92 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 390 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Annapolis: 304 thunderstorm wind reports, 43 floods, 31 flash floods, 10 heavy rain events and 2 lightning strikes. They killed 2 people and injured 20, and the NWS estimated $5.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 102 mph, on June 2, 2000. August has had the most flash floods, 13 of 31. Of the 239 Maryland cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 99 have had fewer than Annapolis.

Flood insurance policyholders in Annapolis's 5 ZIP codes have filed 581 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $13.1 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Isabel in 2003: 316 claims (54% of all) and $10.7 million, then Hurricane Fran in 1996 with 28 and Hurricane Irene in 2011 with 11. 66% 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, 144 have fewer than Annapolis.