Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Beaufort, NC

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Beaufort Michael J Smith Field, NC, 3 miles south of Beaufort at 11 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 74°F; January is the coolest, at 55°F and 38°F. September is the wettest at 8.5 inches of precipitation on average and February and March the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 55.7 inches over 80 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 61% of the year's precipitation (33.8 of 55.7 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 137 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (48); a normal September there has highs of 82°F and 8.5 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 7 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 28 nights a year. That 55.7 inches is more than at 108 of the 140 North Carolina stations used on this site (77%). Morehead City, 7 miles southwest, has its own station (Morehead City 2 WNW, NC): 61.2 inches a year, 5.5 more than here, and a July average high of 86°F against 87°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Beaufort, Duke Marine Lab, NC, 4 miles south, 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, 4 miles from Beaufort, 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 119 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Beaufort: 91 thunderstorm wind reports, 17 flash floods, 9 floods and 2 heavy rain events. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $283,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 92 mph, on June 9, 2007. September has had the most flash floods, 9 of 17. Of the 472 North Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 247 have had fewer than Beaufort.

Flood insurance policyholders in Beaufort's ZIP code 28516 have filed 1,798 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $24.4 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Florence in 2018: 573 claims (32% of all) and $12.5 million, then Hurricane Isabel in 2003 with 232 and Hurricane Irene in 2011 with 192. 91% 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, 247 have fewer than Beaufort.