Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Crisfield, MD

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Wallops Island Flight Fac, VA, 21 miles east of Crisfield at 38 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 70°F; January is the coolest, at 46°F and 30°F. July is the wettest at 4.4 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 43.3 inches over 72 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (23.3 of 43.3 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 65 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (24); a normal September there has highs of 79°F and 4.3 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 19 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 69 nights a year. Snowfall averages 8.4 inches a year, most of it in January. That 43.3 inches is more than at 9 of the 41 Maryland stations used on this site (22%). Westover, 8 miles north, has its own station (Salisbury, MD): 48.0 inches a year, 4.7 more than here, and a July average high of 89°F against 86°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Bishops Head, MD, 19 miles northwest, 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 Wachapreague tide gauge, 28 miles from Crisfield, has risen 2.24 ± 0.12 inches per decade from 1978 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 44 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Crisfield: 35 thunderstorm wind reports, 4 flash floods, 3 heavy rain events and 2 floods. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $269,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 69 mph, on July 1, 2016.

Flood insurance policyholders in Crisfield's ZIP code 21817 have filed 796 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $9.4 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Sandy in 2012: 461 claims (58% of all) and $6.9 million, then Hurricane Floyd in 1999 with 69 and Hurricane Isabel in 2003 with 59. 76% 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, 146 have fewer than Crisfield.