Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Bear, DE

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Newark Ag Farm, DE, 5 miles northwest of Bear at 106 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 66°F; January is the coolest, at 43°F and 25°F. September is the wettest at 4.9 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.9 inches; the year adds up to 47.0 inches over 77 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (25.1 of 47.0 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 39 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (15); a normal September there has highs of 79°F and 4.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 33 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 97 nights a year. That 47.0 inches is more than at 5 of the 11 Delaware stations used on this site (45%). Delaware City, 6 miles east, has its own station (Wilmington New Castle Co Airport, DE): 45.5 inches a year, 1.5 less than here, and a July average high of 87°F against 89°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Reedy Point, DE, 7 miles east, averaged 83°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 Reedy Point tide gauge, 7 miles from Bear, has risen 1.55 ± 0.09 inches per decade from 1956 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 15.5 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 93 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 380 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Bear: 236 thunderstorm wind reports, 63 floods, 60 flash floods, 14 lightning strikes and 7 heavy rain events. They killed 2 people and injured 5, and the NWS estimated $6.8 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 87 mph, on July 12, 2022. August has had the most flash floods, 23 of 60. Of the 37 Delaware cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 31 have had fewer than Bear.

Flood insurance policyholders in Bear's ZIP code 19701 have filed 15 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $73,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 33% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 24 Delaware cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 1 have fewer than Bear.