Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Bethany Beach, DE

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Ocean City Municipal Airport, MD, 16 miles south of Bethany Beach at 12 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 84°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 45°F and 28°F. October is the wettest at 4.0 inches of precipitation on average and February and April the driest at 3.0 inches; the year adds up to 42.7 inches over 70 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 52% of the year's precipitation (22.0 of 42.7 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 69 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (29); a normal September there has highs of 77°F and 3.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 13 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 81 nights a year. That 42.7 inches is more than at 1 of the 11 Delaware stations used on this site (9%). Ocean View, 2 miles northwest, has its own station (Lewes, DE): 47.5 inches a year, 4.8 more than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 84°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Ocean City Inlet, MD, 15 miles south, averaged 74°F in September and 41°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Ocean City tide gauge, 15 miles from Bethany Beach, has risen 2.07 ± 0.14 inches per decade from 1975 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 20.7 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 121 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 122 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Bethany Beach: 52 thunderstorm wind reports, 24 flash floods, 23 heavy rain events, 14 lightning strikes and 9 floods. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $306,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 86 mph, on July 19, 2002. July has had the most flash floods, 11 of 24. Of the 37 Delaware cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 24 have had fewer than Bethany Beach.

Flood insurance policyholders in Bethany Beach's ZIP code 19930 have filed 1,414 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $9.4 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Sandy in 2012: 579 claims (41% of all) and $4.9 million, then Flooding in 1992 with 394 and Hurricane Gloria in 1985 with 71. 75% 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, 23 have fewer than Bethany Beach.