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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Dundalk, MD

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

33 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Dundalk, Maryland since 1851, 2 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 96 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 2 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
2

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
31

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
96

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
2

4 deaths in all

What the records show for Dundalk

The strongest storm to pass near Dundalk was an unnamed storm in 1878, a Category 1 hurricane with 90 mph winds when its centre passed 23 miles away. The record near Dundalk begins with an unnamed storm in 1863; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 61 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1870s, with 5 systems, one of them at hurricane strength. Of the 33 systems, 6 have come since 2000. Of the 239 Maryland cities on this site, 85% have more hurricanes within 75 miles than Dundalk. The highest rating among the 96 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 2 times; the most recent, on September 24, 2001, came within 17 miles. The deadliest, an EF1 on November 2, 2018, killed 2 people. Of the 96, 9 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 46 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 26. The most recent tornado was on July 31, 2025. Dundalk has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 56% of the 239 Maryland cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 106 times since 1957, with stones up to 4.5 inches (grapefruit size). Dundalk has more hail reports within 10 miles than 84% of the 239 Maryland cities.

Compare Dundalk's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Dundalk

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Dundalk, Maryland, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2021IdaSep 261 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 4
2020ZetaOct 2967 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 3
2020IsaiasAug 427 miTropical storm (67 mph)Category 1
2012SandyOct 3046 miTropical storm (62 mph)Category 3
2008HannaSep 654 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
2006ErnestoSep 210 miTropical storm (44 mph)Category 1
1996BerthaJul 1355 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1992DanielleSep 2636 miTropical storm (41 mph)Tropical storm
1955DianeAug 1831 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 2
1955ConnieAug 139 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 4
1954HazelOct 1549 miCategory 1 (83 mph)Category 4
1952AbleSep 133 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1949Unnamed 1949 stormAug 2956 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 4
1945Unnamed 1945 stormSep 1872 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 4
1944Unnamed 1944 stormAug 354 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1943Unnamed 1943 stormOct 113 miTropical storm (44 mph)Tropical storm
1934Unnamed 1934 stormJun 1911 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1933Unnamed 1933 stormAug 2434 miTropical storm (60 mph)Category 4
1929Unnamed 1929 stormOct 24 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 4
1928Unnamed 1928 stormSep 2071 miTropical storm (51 mph)Category 5
1915Unnamed 1915 stormAug 416 miTropical storm (49 mph)Category 1
1904Unnamed 1904 stormSep 1571 miTropical storm (72 mph)Category 1
1899Unnamed 1899 stormNov 18 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1893Unnamed 1893 stormOct 2320 miTropical storm (44 mph)Tropical storm
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2925 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 1160 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1885Unnamed 1885 stormOct 1373 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1878Unnamed 1878 stormOct 2323 miCategory 1 (90 mph)Category 2
1877Unnamed 1877 stormOct 465 miTropical storm (66 mph)Category 3
1876Unnamed 1876 stormSep 1858 miTropical storm (66 mph)Category 3
1874Unnamed 1874 stormSep 2959 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
1872Unnamed 1872 stormOct 2657 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1863Unnamed 1863 stormSep 1966 miTropical storm (56 mph)Tropical storm

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

By decade

  • 2020s14
  • 2010s20
  • 2000s12(1 EF3+)
  • 1990s35
  • 1970s11
  • 1960s3(1 EF3+)
  • 1950s1
Strongest tornadoes near Dundalk, Maryland
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Sep 24, 2001F317 mi17.5 mi2 / 55
Jun 9, 1961F36 mi0.1 mi0 / 0
Sep 1, 2021EF218 mi11.43 mi0 / 0
Jul 23, 2017EF222 mi2.37 mi0 / 1
Jul 27, 1994F222 mi4 mi0 / 0
Jul 27, 1994F28 mi7 mi0 / 0
Oct 18, 1990F222 mi0.1 mi0 / 59
Sep 5, 1979F214 mi0.5 mi0 / 0
Jun 16, 1973F26 mi0.1 mi0 / 4
Nov 2, 2018EF1in town2.72 mi2 / 1
May 16, 2025EF1in town4.34 mi0 / 0
Jun 5, 2024EF17 mi0.94 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 96, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Dundalk

The Storm Prediction Center has 106 hail reports within 10 miles of Dundalk since 1957, made on 61 separate days. Of these, 86 were 1 inch across or larger, and 2 reached 2 inches. The largest, 4.5 inches (grapefruit size), fell on June 18, 1970. The most recent report is from June 29, 2025. August has the most reports, 36.

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

Radar-estimated hail days in Dundalk since 2019 →

Weather by month in Dundalk

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Md Sci Ctr Baltimore, MD, 6 miles west of Dundalk at 20 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 90°F and low of 73°F; January is the coolest, at 44°F and 30°F. July is the wettest at 4.7 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 44.0 inches over 72 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 44.0 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 33 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (12); a normal September there has highs of 80°F and 4.5 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 43 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 52 nights a year. That 44.0 inches is more than at 12 of the 41 Maryland stations used on this site (29%). Glen Burnie, 9 miles southwest, has its own station (Baltimore Wash International Airport, MD): 45.0 inches a year, 1.0 more than here, and a July average high of 89°F against 90°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Baltimore, MD, 4 miles west, averaged 83°F in July and 40°F in February over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Baltimore tide gauge, 4 miles from Dundalk, has risen 1.30 ± 0.02 inches per decade from 1902 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 13.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 77 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Md Sci Ctr Baltimore, MD
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Water °F
Jan44303.1641
Feb47322.8640
Mar55393.9746
Apr67483.6656
May76583.4766
Jun85683.4675
Jul90734.7783
Aug87714.4681
Sep80654.5577
Oct69533.5568
Nov58433.0557
Dec48353.7745
Year675144.07261

Averages for 1991–2020 at Md Sci Ctr Baltimore, MD (20 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Baltimore, MD, 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.

Maryland weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Dundalk

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 638 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Dundalk: 311 thunderstorm wind reports, 222 flash floods, 102 floods and 3 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 5, and the NWS estimated $6.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 90 mph, on November 17, 2010. July has had the most flash floods, 80 of 222. Of the 239 Maryland cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 224 have had fewer than Dundalk.

  • August 4, 2022: lightning strike 9 miles from the centre of Dundalk — 1 killed.

  • July 18, 2016: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Dundalk — 2 injured.

  • August 17, 1997: thunderstorm wind 10 miles from the centre of Dundalk — 1 injured, $40,000 damage.

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 Dundalk's ZIP code 21222 have filed 525 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $7.9 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Isabel in 2003: 364 claims (69% of all) and $7.3 million. 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, 143 have fewer than Dundalk.

Flood insurance claims in Dundalk by named event
EventClaimsPaid
Hurricane Isabel2003364$7.3 million

Baltimore County, which includes Dundalk, has been named in 24 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1971, 17 of them major disasters (by incident: 6 hurricanes, 6 snowstorms, 5 floods, 4 severe storms). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on March 26, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Baltimore County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for lightning; Relatively High for inland flooding, strong wind and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes, tornadoes, hail and coastal flooding. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $157.1 million a year, the highest of 24 Maryland counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $67.3 million (43%), 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 Dundalk