Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Columbia, MD

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Laurel 3 W, MD, 9 miles south of Columbia at 400 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 69°F; January is the coolest, at 43°F and 26°F. September is the wettest at 4.7 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.7 inches; the year adds up to 47.5 inches over 78 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (25.0 of 47.5 inches); the other six months are drier. Highs reach 90°F on about 36 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 86 nights a year. That 47.5 inches is more than at 28 of the 41 Maryland stations used on this site (68%). Ellicott City, 4 miles north, has its own station (Baltimore Wash International Airport, MD): 45.0 inches a year, 2.5 less than here, and the same July average high, 89°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Baltimore, MD, 15 miles east, averaged 83°F in July and 40°F in February over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Baltimore tide gauge, 15 miles from Columbia, has risen 1.30 ± 0.02 inches per decade from 1902 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 13.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 77 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 640 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Columbia: 405 thunderstorm wind reports, 116 floods, 114 flash floods and 5 lightning strikes. They killed 5 people and injured 8, and the NWS estimated $44.6 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 90 mph, on June 29, 2012. July has had the most flash floods, 30 of 114. Of the 239 Maryland cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 184 have had fewer than Columbia.

Flood insurance policyholders in Columbia's 3 ZIP codes have filed 60 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $136,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 10% 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, 89 have fewer than Columbia.