Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit District Heights, MD

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Natl Arboretum Dc, MD, 6 miles northwest of District Heights at 50 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 90°F and low of 71°F; January is the coolest, at 45°F and 28°F. June and July are the wettest at 4.6 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 45.6 inches over 79 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (24.4 of 45.6 inches); the other six months are drier. Highs reach 90°F on about 47 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 84 nights a year. Snowfall averages 9.7 inches a year, most of it in January. That 45.6 inches is more than at 20 of the 41 Maryland stations used on this site (49%). Suitland, 2 miles southwest, has its own station (Oxon Hill, MD): 47.1 inches a year, 1.5 more than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 90°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Washington, DC, 7 miles west, 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 Washington tide gauge, 7 miles from District Heights, has risen 1.40 ± 0.05 inches per decade from 1924 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 14.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 84 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 850 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of District Heights: 576 thunderstorm wind reports, 143 flash floods, 127 floods and 4 lightning strikes. They killed 7 people and injured 34, and the NWS estimated $26.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 96 mph, on June 22, 2012. September has had the most flash floods, 37 of 143. Of the 239 Maryland cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 197 have had fewer than District Heights.

Flood insurance policyholders in District Heights's ZIP code 20747 have filed 24 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $35,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 13% 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, 41 have fewer than District Heights.