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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Drexel Hill, 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

39 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania since 1851, 3 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 95 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 5 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
3

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
36

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
95

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
5

5 deaths in all

What the records show for Drexel Hill

The strongest storm to pass near Drexel Hill was an unnamed storm in 1893, a Category 1 hurricane with 89 mph winds when its centre passed 74 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1904, whose centre came within 56 miles. The record near Drexel Hill begins with an unnamed storm in 1861; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 4 miles away. The 1870s and the 2020s were the busiest decades, with 4 systems each. Of the 39 systems, 9 have come since 2000. Drexel Hill has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 89% of the 794 Pennsylvania cities on this site. The highest rating among the 95 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3 or EF3, reached 5 times; the most recent, on September 1, 2021, came within 14 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on July 27, 1994, killed 3 people. Of the 95, 2 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 29 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 24. The most recent tornado was on August 8, 2024. Drexel Hill has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 98% of the 794 Pennsylvania cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 100 times since 1957, with stones up to 1.75 inches (golf ball size). Drexel Hill has more hail reports within 10 miles than 86% of the 794 Pennsylvania cities.

Compare Drexel Hill's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Drexel Hill

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2021IdaSep 24 miTropical storm (41 mph)Category 4
2021ElsaJul 967 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
2020IsaiasAug 415 miTropical storm (64 mph)Category 1
2020FayJul 1051 miTropical storm (45 mph)Tropical storm
2013AndreaJun 873 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
2012SandyOct 3017 miTropical storm (71 mph)Category 3
2011IreneAug 2856 miTropical storm (67 mph)Category 3
2008HannaSep 632 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
2006ErnestoSep 374 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1999FloydSep 1663 miTropical storm (62 mph)Category 4
1996BerthaJul 1326 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1992DanielleSep 2639 miTropical storm (39 mph)Tropical storm
1971DoriaAug 2841 miTropical storm (64 mph)Tropical storm
1961Unnamed 1961 stormSep 1564 miTropical storm (60 mph)Tropical storm
1960BrendaJul 3047 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1955DianeAug 1923 miTropical storm (41 mph)Category 2
1952AbleSep 136 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1944Unnamed 1944 stormAug 366 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1934Unnamed 1934 stormJun 197 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1929Unnamed 1929 stormOct 348 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 4
1924Unnamed 1924 stormSep 3043 miTropical storm (70 mph)Category 1
1916Unnamed 1916 stormMay 1774 miTropical storm (53 mph)Tropical storm
1915Unnamed 1915 stormAug 424 miTropical storm (53 mph)Category 1
1904Unnamed 1904 stormSep 1556 miCategory 1 (76 mph)Category 1
1903Unnamed 1903 stormSep 1621 miTropical storm (68 mph)Category 2
1902Unnamed 1902 stormJun 1674 miTropical storm (45 mph)Tropical storm
1899Unnamed 1899 stormNov 128 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2939 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2474 miCategory 1 (89 mph)Category 3
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 1145 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1888Unnamed 1888 stormAug 2264 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 3
1882Unnamed 1882 stormSep 2457 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1878Unnamed 1878 stormOct 2356 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 2
1877Unnamed 1877 stormOct 548 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1874Unnamed 1874 stormSep 2934 miTropical storm (62 mph)Category 1
1872Unnamed 1872 stormOct 2632 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1866Unnamed 1866 stormOct 3058 miTropical storm (63 mph)Tropical storm
1863Unnamed 1863 stormSep 1928 miTropical storm (53 mph)Tropical storm
1861Unnamed 1861 stormSep 2844 miTropical storm (67 mph)Category 1

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Drexel Hill: 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 Drexel Hill

By decade

  • 2020s15(2 EF3+)
  • 2010s9
  • 2000s5
  • 1990s23(1 EF3+)
  • 1980s18
  • 1970s9
  • 1960s9(1 EF3+)
  • 1950s7(1 EF3+)
Strongest tornadoes near Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Jul 27, 1994F323 mi2 mi3 / 25
Mar 22, 1955F311 mi9.6 mi1 / 0
Sep 1, 2021EF314 mi12.37 mi0 / 2
Jul 29, 2021EF320 mi3.4 mi0 / 0
Apr 28, 1961F324 mi0.3 mi0 / 0
Sep 1, 2021EF211 mi8.28 mi1 / 2
Aug 4, 2020EF220 mi20.77 mi0 / 18
Oct 31, 2019EF211 mi0.47 mi0 / 2
Sep 28, 2004F221 mi5 mi0 / 0
May 31, 1998F219 mi5.6 mi0 / 0
Jul 17, 1992F222 mi4 mi0 / 0
Oct 18, 1990F219 mi1 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 95, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Drexel Hill

The Storm Prediction Center has 100 hail reports within 10 miles of Drexel Hill since 1957, made on 59 separate days. Of these, 46 were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest size, 1.75 inches (golf ball size), was reported on 6 days, most recently June 24, 2010. The most recent report is from May 3, 2025. May has the most reports, 29.

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

Radar-estimated hail days in Drexel Hill since 2019 →

Weather by month in Drexel Hill

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Philadelphia International Airport, PA, 7 miles southeast of Drexel Hill at 10 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 70°F; January is the coolest, at 41°F and 26°F. July and September are the wettest at 4.4 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 44.2 inches over 73 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (23.5 of 44.2 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 39 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (15); a normal September there has highs of 79°F and 4.4 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 30 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 77 nights a year. Snowfall averages 23.1 inches a year, most of it in February. That 44.2 inches is more than at 71 of the 148 Pennsylvania stations used on this site (48%). Upper Darby, 2 miles east, has its own station (Phila Franklin Inst, PA): 50.9 inches a year, 6.7 more than here, and a July average high of 89°F against 88°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Philadelphia, PA, 9 miles east, 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, 9 miles from Drexel Hill, 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 International Airport, PA
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Snow inWater °F
Jan41263.167.138
Feb44282.868.438
Mar53344.073.645
Apr65443.560.354
May74543.360.063
Jun83644.070.073
Jul88704.460.080
Aug86684.360.079
Sep79614.460.074
Oct67493.560.065
Nov56392.960.254
Dec46314.073.543
Year654744.27323.159

Averages for 1991–2020 at Philadelphia International Airport, PA (10 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Philadelphia, 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 Drexel Hill

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 843 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Drexel Hill: 537 thunderstorm wind reports, 194 flash floods, 74 floods, 25 lightning strikes and 13 heavy rain events. They killed 11 people and injured 37, and the NWS estimated $134.8 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 105 mph, on April 4, 2025. August has had the most flash floods, 62 of 194. Of the 788 Pennsylvania cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 748 have had fewer than Drexel Hill.

  • September 1, 2021: flash flood 10 miles from the centre of Drexel Hill — 2 killed, $21.0 million damage.

  • December 19, 2025: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Drexel Hill — 2 killed, $20,000 damage.

  • October 14, 2003: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Drexel Hill — 1 killed, 1 injured.

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 Drexel Hill's ZIP code 19026 have filed 56 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $1.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The year with the most claims was 2004, with 13. 34% 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, 287 have fewer than Drexel Hill.

Delaware County, which includes Drexel Hill, has been named in 24 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 16 of them major disasters (by incident: 7 hurricanes, 6 floods, 4 severe storms, 3 snowstorms). The latest major disaster declaration was Remnants of Hurricane Ida, on September 10, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Delaware County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for tornadoes, inland flooding, strong wind, lightning and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes and coastal flooding; Very Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $134.9 million a year, the 7th highest of 67 Pennsylvania counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $73.9 million (55%), 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 Drexel Hill