Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Bensalem, PA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Neshaminy Falls, PA, 3 miles north of Bensalem at 40 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 65°F; January is the coolest, at 39°F and 22°F. July is the wettest at 4.9 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.1 inches; the year adds up to 50.8 inches over 82 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (26.7 of 50.8 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 41 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (15); a normal September there has highs of 77°F and 4.7 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 27 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 120 nights a year. Snowfall averages 19.9 inches a year, most of it in January. That 50.8 inches is more than at 135 of the 148 Pennsylvania stations used on this site (91%). Edgewater Park, NJ, 3 miles south, has its own station (Philadelphia NE Airport, PA): 45.0 inches a year, 5.8 less than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 86°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Burlington, Delaware River, NJ, 4 miles southeast, averaged 80°F in July and 37°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July. Sea level at the Philadelphia tide gauge, 16 miles from Bensalem, has risen 1.24 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1900 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 12.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 73 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 780 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Bensalem: 530 thunderstorm wind reports, 141 flash floods, 67 floods, 22 lightning strikes and 20 heavy rain events. They killed 6 people and injured 29, and the NWS estimated $119.7 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 75 mph, on July 22, 2019. July has had the most flash floods, 54 of 141. Of the 788 Pennsylvania cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 706 have had fewer than Bensalem.

Flood insurance policyholders in Bensalem's ZIP code 19020 have filed 294 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $5.0 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Floyd in 1999: 39 claims (13% of all) and $1.2 million, then Hurricane Irene in 2011 with 28 and Hurricane Ida in 2021 with 13. 38% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 553 Pennsylvania cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 498 have fewer than Bensalem.