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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Dresher, PA

Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.

Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated

36 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Dresher, Pennsylvania since 1851, 3 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 90 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 5 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
3

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
33

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
90

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
5

6 deaths in all

What the records show for Dresher

The strongest storm to pass near Dresher was an unnamed storm in 1893, a Category 1 hurricane with 87 mph winds when its centre passed 67 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1878, whose centre came within 56 miles. The record near Dresher begins with an unnamed storm in 1861; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 15 miles away. The 1870s and the 2020s were the busiest decades, with 4 systems each. Of the 36 systems, 7 have come since 2000. Dresher has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 89% of the 794 Pennsylvania cities on this site. The highest rating among the 90 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3 or EF3, reached 5 times; the most recent, on September 1, 2021, came within 23 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on July 27, 1994, killed 3 people. Of the 90, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 33 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 22. The most recent tornado was on June 14, 2024. Dresher has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 92% of the 794 Pennsylvania cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 71 times since 1957, with stones up to 1.75 inches (golf ball size). Dresher has more hail reports within 10 miles than 67% of the 794 Pennsylvania cities.

Compare Dresher's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Dresher

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Dresher, Pennsylvania, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2021IdaSep 215 miTropical storm (41 mph)Category 4
2021ElsaJul 971 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
2020IsaiasAug 417 miTropical storm (64 mph)Category 1
2020FayJul 1045 miTropical storm (41 mph)Tropical storm
2012SandyOct 3033 miTropical storm (72 mph)Category 3
2011IreneAug 2852 miTropical storm (66 mph)Category 3
2008HannaSep 634 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
1999FloydSep 1663 miTropical storm (61 mph)Category 4
1996BerthaJul 1327 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1992DanielleSep 2654 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1971DoriaAug 2840 miTropical storm (63 mph)Tropical storm
1961Unnamed 1961 stormSep 1565 miTropical storm (61 mph)Tropical storm
1960BrendaJul 3048 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1955DianeAug 1912 miTropical storm (43 mph)Category 2
1952AbleSep 130 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1944Unnamed 1944 stormAug 374 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1934Unnamed 1934 stormJun 1916 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1929Unnamed 1929 stormOct 350 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 4
1924Unnamed 1924 stormSep 3042 miTropical storm (70 mph)Category 1
1915Unnamed 1915 stormAug 417 miTropical storm (54 mph)Category 1
1904Unnamed 1904 stormSep 1562 miCategory 1 (76 mph)Category 1
1903Unnamed 1903 stormSep 1611 miTropical storm (66 mph)Category 2
1900Unnamed 1900 stormOct 1471 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1899Unnamed 1899 stormNov 126 miTropical storm (56 mph)Category 2
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2934 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2467 miCategory 1 (87 mph)Category 3
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 1149 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1888Unnamed 1888 stormAug 2253 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 3
1882Unnamed 1882 stormSep 2461 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1878Unnamed 1878 stormOct 2356 miCategory 1 (85 mph)Category 2
1877Unnamed 1877 stormOct 555 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1874Unnamed 1874 stormSep 2936 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 1
1872Unnamed 1872 stormOct 2635 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1866Unnamed 1866 stormOct 3052 miTropical storm (62 mph)Tropical storm
1863Unnamed 1863 stormSep 1926 miTropical storm (53 mph)Tropical storm
1861Unnamed 1861 stormSep 2845 miTropical storm (66 mph)Category 1

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Dresher: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.

Tornadoes within 25 miles of Dresher

By decade

  • 2020s18(2 EF3+)
  • 2010s8
  • 2000s7
  • 1990s23(1 EF3+)
  • 1980s13
  • 1970s5
  • 1960s9(1 EF3+)
  • 1950s7(1 EF3+)
Strongest tornadoes near Dresher, Pennsylvania
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Jul 27, 1994F320 mi2 mi3 / 25
Mar 22, 1955F318 mi9.6 mi1 / 0
Sep 1, 2021EF323 mi12.37 mi0 / 2
Jul 29, 2021EF38 mi3.4 mi0 / 0
Jun 24, 1960F322 mi12.9 mi0 / 0
Sep 1, 2021EF22 mi8.28 mi1 / 2
Jul 29, 2021EF218 mi6.31 mi0 / 0
Aug 4, 2020EF27 mi20.77 mi0 / 18
Oct 31, 2019EF225 mi0.47 mi0 / 2
May 31, 1998F27 mi5.6 mi0 / 0
Jun 9, 1989F214 mi2 mi0 / 1
Aug 17, 1988F222 mi4.5 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 90, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Dresher

The Storm Prediction Center has 71 hail reports within 10 miles of Dresher since 1957, made on 45 separate days. Of these, 32 were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest size, 1.75 inches (golf ball size), was reported on 3 days, most recently May 31, 2002. The most recent report is from May 3, 2025. July has the most reports, 23.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.

Weather by month in Dresher

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Philadelphia NE Airport, PA, 9 miles southeast of Dresher at 100 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 69°F; January is the coolest, at 42°F and 27°F. September is the wettest at 4.5 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.6 inches; the year adds up to 45.0 inches over 75 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (23.7 of 45.0 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 36 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (14); a normal September there has highs of 79°F and 4.5 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 29 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 88 nights a year. That 45.0 inches is more than at 76 of the 148 Pennsylvania stations used on this site (51%). Fort Washington, 2 miles southwest, has its own station (Norristown, PA): 50.7 inches a year, 5.7 more than here, and a July average high of 89°F against 88°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Bridesburg, PA, 13 miles south, averaged 80°F in July and 38°F in February over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July. Sea level at the Philadelphia tide gauge, 15 miles from Dresher, has risen 1.24 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1900 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 12.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 73 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Philadelphia NE Airport, PA
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Water °F
Jan42273.3638
Feb45282.6538
Mar53354.0646
Apr65443.8754
May75543.6763
Jun83643.9873
Jul88694.3780
Aug86684.2679
Sep79604.5673
Oct68483.6664
Nov57383.2653
Dec47314.0742
Year664745.07559

Averages for 1991–2020 at Philadelphia NE Airport, PA (100 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Bridesburg, PA, from NOAA Tides & Currents. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.

Pennsylvania weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Dresher

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 621 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Dresher: 406 thunderstorm wind reports, 140 flash floods, 59 floods, 10 lightning strikes and 6 heavy rain events. They killed 5 people and injured 17, and the NWS estimated $147.2 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 109 mph, on October 31, 2019. July has had the most flash floods, 46 of 140. Of the 788 Pennsylvania cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 705 have had fewer than Dresher.

  • December 19, 2025: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Dresher — 2 killed, $20,000 damage.

  • May 30, 2016: flash flood 9 miles from the centre of Dresher — 1 killed.

  • June 3, 2020: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Dresher — 1 killed.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.

Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings

Flood insurance policyholders in Dresher's ZIP code 19025 have filed 22 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $466,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 55% 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, 130 have fewer than Dresher.

Montgomery County, which includes Dresher, has been named in 29 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 21 of them major disasters (by incident: 8 hurricanes, 7 floods, 6 severe storms, 4 snowstorms). The latest major disaster declaration was Remnants of Hurricane Ida, on September 10, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Montgomery County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for strong wind; Relatively High for tornadoes, inland flooding and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes and lightning; Relatively Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $296.7 million a year, the 3rd highest of 67 Pennsylvania counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $192.6 million (65%), is from inland flooding.

Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.

Cities near Dresher