Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Columbia, PA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Landisville 2 NW, PA, 7 miles northeast of Columbia at 360 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 61°F; January is the coolest, at 37°F and 19°F. July is the wettest at 4.8 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.4 inches; the year adds up to 45.1 inches over 78 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 56% of the year's precipitation (25.2 of 45.1 inches); the other six months are drier. August has brought the most of the 23 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (8); a normal August there has highs of 83°F and 4.0 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 21 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 122 nights a year. Snowfall averages 23.2 inches a year, most of it in January. That 45.1 inches is more than at 77 of the 148 Pennsylvania stations used on this site (52%). Wrightsville, 3 miles southwest, has its own station (Safe Harbor Dam, PA): 46.5 inches a year, 1.4 more than here, and a July average high of 87°F against 85°F.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 228 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Columbia: 162 thunderstorm wind reports, 55 flash floods and 11 floods. They killed 1 person and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $947,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 92 mph, on June 1, 2007. July has had the most flash floods, 32 of 55. Of the 788 Pennsylvania cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 545 have had fewer than Columbia.

Flood insurance policyholders in Columbia's ZIP code 17512 have filed 138 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $1.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1996: 27 claims (20% of all) and $242,000, then Tropical Storm Lee in 2011 with 23. The year with the most claims was 1978, with 40. 48% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 553 Pennsylvania cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 422 have fewer than Columbia.