Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Atkinson, NC

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Willard 4 SW, NC, 12 miles northeast of Atkinson at 55 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 69°F; January is the coolest, at 56°F and 32°F. August is the wettest at 7.1 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.2 inches; the year adds up to 55.8 inches over 78 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 60% of the year's precipitation (33.4 of 55.8 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 115 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (43); a normal September there has highs of 82°F and 6.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 60 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 49 nights a year. Snowfall averages 0.8 inches a year, most of it in February. That 55.8 inches is more than at 109 of the 140 North Carolina stations used on this site (78%). Currie, 8 miles southeast, has its own station (Wilmington 7 N, NC): 63.5 inches a year, 7.7 more than here, and the same July average high, 89°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Wilmington, NC, 25 miles southeast, averaged 84°F in July and 49°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from June to August. Sea level at the Wilmington tide gauge, 25 miles from Atkinson, has risen 1.10 ± 0.07 inches per decade from 1935 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 11.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 64 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 43 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Atkinson: 32 thunderstorm wind reports, 6 flash floods, 2 floods, 2 heavy rain events and 1 lightning strike. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $38.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on June 10, 1999. August has had the most flash floods, 4 of 6. Of the 472 North Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 38 have had fewer than Atkinson.

Flood insurance policyholders in Atkinson's ZIP code 28421 have filed 49 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1989, and were paid $3.1 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Florence in 2018: 26 claims (53% of all) and $2.3 million, then Hurricane Matthew in 2016 with 10. 96% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 263 North Carolina cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 136 have fewer than Atkinson.