Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Ayden, NC

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Greenville, NC, 12 miles north of Ayden at 32 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 90°F and low of 71°F; January is the coolest, at 53°F and 33°F. September is the wettest at 7.3 inches of precipitation on average and February and November the driest at 3.4 inches; the year adds up to 53.5 inches over 82 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 57% of the year's precipitation (30.6 of 53.5 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 107 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (40); a normal September there has highs of 83°F and 7.3 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 53 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 54 nights a year. Snowfall averages 3.3 inches a year, most of it in January. That 53.5 inches is more than at 100 of the 140 North Carolina stations used on this site (71%). Grifton, 6 miles south, has its own station (Kinston Ag Rsch, NC): 52.8 inches a year, 0.7 less than here, and a July average high of 91°F against 90°F.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 131 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Ayden: 91 thunderstorm wind reports, 23 flash floods, 9 heavy rain events, 7 floods and 1 lightning strike. They killed 1 person and injured 3, and the NWS estimated $366,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 75 mph, on July 1, 2012. September has had the most flash floods, 8 of 23. Of the 472 North Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 319 have had fewer than Ayden.

Flood insurance policyholders in Ayden's ZIP code 28513 have filed 62 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1992, and were paid $1.3 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Floyd in 1999: 15 claims (24% of all) and $514,000, then Hurricane Matthew in 2016 with 11. 82% 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, 155 have fewer than Ayden.