Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Colonial Beach, VA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Warsaw 2 NW, VA, 20 miles southeast of Colonial Beach at 140 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 47°F and 29°F. August is the wettest at 5.0 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.6 inches; the year adds up to 45.3 inches over 75 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 57% of the year's precipitation (25.6 of 45.3 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 47 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (15); a normal September there has highs of 80°F and 4.2 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 44 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 77 nights a year. Snowfall averages 11.5 inches a year, most of it in January. That 45.3 inches is more than at 45 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (41%). Newburg, MD, 9 miles north, has its own station (Mechanicsville 5 NE, MD): 48.1 inches a year, 2.8 more than here, and a July average high of 85°F against 88°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Dahlgren, VA, 7 miles northwest, averaged 85°F in July and 40°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Dahlgren tide gauge, 7 miles from Colonial Beach, has risen 2.24 ± 0.12 inches per decade from 1972 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 22.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 127 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 190 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Colonial Beach: 151 thunderstorm wind reports, 20 flash floods, 13 floods and 6 heavy rain events. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $378,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on June 29, 2012. September has had the most flash floods, 10 of 20. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 184 have had fewer than Colonial Beach.

Flood insurance policyholders in Colonial Beach's ZIP code 22443 have filed 130 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1985, and were paid $4.8 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Isabel in 2003: 51 claims (39% of all) and $3.5 million, then Tropical Storm Ernesto in 2006 with 24 and Hurricane Fran in 1996 with 16. 75% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 183 Virginia cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 143 have fewer than Colonial Beach.