Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Castle Hayne, NC

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Wilmington 7 N, NC, 1 mile southwest of Castle Hayne at 40 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 71°F; January is the coolest, at 56°F and 33°F. September is the wettest at 9.7 inches of precipitation on average and April the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 63.5 inches over 82 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 62% of the year's precipitation (39.6 of 63.5 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 123 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (44); a normal September there has highs of 83°F and 9.7 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 58 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 56 nights a year. That 63.5 inches is more than at 128 of the 140 North Carolina stations used on this site (91%). Wilmington, 8 miles south, has its own station (Wilmington International Airport, NC): 60.4 inches a year, 3.1 less than here, and a July average high of 90°F against 89°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Wilmington, NC, 8 miles south, averaged 84°F in July and 49°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from June to August. Sea level at the Wilmington tide gauge, 8 miles from Castle Hayne, has risen 1.10 ± 0.07 inches per decade from 1935 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 11.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 64 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 285 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Castle Hayne: 118 thunderstorm wind reports, 73 flash floods, 45 floods, 26 lightning strikes and 23 heavy rain events. They killed 4 people and injured 10, and the NWS estimated $9.7 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on May 31, 2003. September has had the most flash floods, 37 of 73. Of the 472 North Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 460 have had fewer than Castle Hayne.

Flood insurance policyholders in Castle Hayne's ZIP code 28429 have filed 93 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1984, and were paid $3.6 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Florence in 2018: 44 claims (47% of all) and $3.0 million, then Hurricane Floyd in 1999 with 10. 77% 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, 180 have fewer than Castle Hayne.