Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Capitol Heights, MD

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Natl Arboretum Dc, MD, 4 miles northwest of Capitol Heights at 50 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 90°F and low of 71°F; January is the coolest, at 45°F and 28°F. June and July are the wettest at 4.6 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 45.6 inches over 79 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (24.4 of 45.6 inches); the other six months are drier. October has brought the most of the 34 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (11); a normal October there has highs of 70°F and 4.2 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 47 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 84 nights a year. Snowfall averages 9.7 inches a year, most of it in January. That 45.6 inches is more than at 20 of the 41 Maryland stations used on this site (49%). Suitland, 3 miles south, has its own station (Oxon Hill, MD): 47.1 inches a year, 1.5 more than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 90°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Washington, DC, 6 miles west, averaged 84°F in July and 39°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Washington tide gauge, 6 miles from Capitol Heights, has risen 1.40 ± 0.05 inches per decade from 1924 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 14.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 84 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 1,114 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Capitol Heights: 723 thunderstorm wind reports, 214 flash floods, 173 floods and 4 lightning strikes. They killed 7 people and injured 41, and the NWS estimated $29.8 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 96 mph, on June 22, 2012. July has had the most flash floods, 63 of 214. Of the 239 Maryland cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 222 have had fewer than Capitol Heights.

Flood insurance policyholders in Capitol Heights's ZIP code 20743 have filed 41 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $146,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 22% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 150 Maryland cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 74 have fewer than Capitol Heights.