Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Atlantic Beach, NC

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Atlantic Beach Wtp, NC, 3 miles east of Atlantic Beach at 4 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 76°F; January is the coolest, at 54°F and 39°F. September is the wettest at 9.7 inches of precipitation on average and March the driest at 3.4 inches; the year adds up to 59.0 inches over 83 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 58% of the year's precipitation (34.5 of 59.0 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 131 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (44); a normal September there has highs of 83°F and 9.7 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 7 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 27 nights a year. That 59.0 inches is more than at 120 of the 140 North Carolina stations used on this site (86%). Morehead City, 3 miles northeast, has its own station (Morehead City 2 WNW, NC): 61.2 inches a year, 2.2 more than here, and the same July average high, 86°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Beaufort, Duke Marine Lab, NC, 7 miles east, averaged 84°F in July and 51°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Beaufort tide gauge, 7 miles from Atlantic Beach, has risen 1.43 ± 0.07 inches per decade from 1953 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 14.3 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 86 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 129 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Atlantic Beach: 100 thunderstorm wind reports, 17 flash floods, 9 floods, 2 heavy rain events and 1 lightning strike. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $634,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 105 mph, on January 12, 1996. August has had the most flash floods, 11 of 17. Of the 472 North Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 247 have had fewer than Atlantic Beach.

Flood insurance policyholders in Atlantic Beach's ZIP code 28512 have filed 1,577 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1980, and were paid $18.0 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Florence in 2018: 364 claims (23% of all) and $8.5 million, then Hurricane Irene in 2011 with 185 and Hurricane Floyd in 1999 with 153. 84% 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, 244 have fewer than Atlantic Beach.