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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Dunnsville, VA

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

52 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Dunnsville, Virginia since 1851, 3 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Elsa in 2021. Since 1950, 58 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 4 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
3

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
49

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
58

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
4

1 deaths in all

What the records show for Dunnsville

The strongest storm to pass near Dunnsville was an unnamed storm in 1878, a Category 2 hurricane with 97 mph winds when its centre passed 17 miles away. The record near Dunnsville begins with an unnamed storm in 1856; the most recent system was Elsa in 2021, a tropical storm 27 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1880s, with 6 systems. Of the 52 systems, 9 have come since 2000. Dunnsville has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 33% of the 364 Virginia cities on this site. The highest rating among the 58 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3 or EF3, reached 4 times; the most recent, on February 24, 2016, came within 6 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on October 18, 1990, killed 1 person. Of the 58, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 35 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 12. The most recent tornado was on April 3, 2024. Dunnsville has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 63% of the 364 Virginia cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 30 times since 1990, with stones up to 2 inches (hen egg size). Of the 364 Virginia cities, 70% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Dunnsville.

Compare Dunnsville's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Dunnsville

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Dunnsville, Virginia, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2021ElsaJul 927 miTropical storm (54 mph)Category 1
2020ZetaOct 2920 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 3
2020IsaiasAug 45 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 1
2019NestorOct 2058 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
2018MichaelOct 1271 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 5
2013AndreaJun 846 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
2008HannaSep 67 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
2006ErnestoSep 23 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
2004GastonAug 3144 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1999FloydSep 1669 miTropical storm (72 mph)Category 4
1996BerthaJul 1323 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1992DanielleSep 2570 miTropical storm (56 mph)Tropical storm
1983DeanSep 3060 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1971DoriaAug 2858 miTropical storm (69 mph)Tropical storm
1963Unnamed 1963 stormJun 336 miTropical storm (48 mph)Tropical storm
1961Unnamed 1961 stormSep 1462 miTropical storm (54 mph)Tropical storm
1960BrendaJul 3044 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1959CindyJul 1066 miTropical storm (47 mph)Category 1
1955ConnieAug 1330 miTropical storm (67 mph)Category 4
1954HazelOct 1553 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 4
1945Unnamed 1945 stormSep 1827 miTropical storm (41 mph)Category 4
1944Unnamed 1944 stormOct 2138 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 4
1944Unnamed 1944 stormAug 216 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1943Unnamed 1943 stormOct 138 miTropical storm (55 mph)Tropical storm
1935Unnamed 1935 stormSep 670 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 5
1933Unnamed 1933 stormAug 233 miTropical storm (71 mph)Category 4
1929Unnamed 1929 stormOct 223 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 4
1928Unnamed 1928 stormSep 1936 miTropical storm (60 mph)Category 5
1928Unnamed 1928 stormAug 126 miTropical storm (48 mph)Category 2
1924Unnamed 1924 stormSep 3054 miCategory 1 (74 mph)Category 1
1916Unnamed 1916 stormMay 1750 miTropical storm (47 mph)Tropical storm
1915Unnamed 1915 stormAug 475 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1904Unnamed 1904 stormSep 1524 miTropical storm (68 mph)Category 1
1902Unnamed 1902 stormOct 121 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 2
1902Unnamed 1902 stormJun 1623 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1899Unnamed 1899 stormOct 3122 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1893Unnamed 1893 stormOct 2362 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1889Unnamed 1889 stormSep 2548 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 118 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1886Unnamed 1886 stormJul 230 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 2
1882Unnamed 1882 stormSep 2358 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1882Unnamed 1882 stormSep 1124 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 3
1881Unnamed 1881 stormSep 1074 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1878Unnamed 1878 stormOct 2317 miCategory 2 (97 mph)Category 2
1877Unnamed 1877 stormOct 417 miTropical storm (61 mph)Category 3
1876Unnamed 1876 stormSep 1727 miTropical storm (71 mph)Category 3
1874Unnamed 1874 stormSep 2927 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
1872Unnamed 1872 stormOct 2626 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1863Unnamed 1863 stormSep 1851 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1861Unnamed 1861 stormSep 2756 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 1
1859Unnamed 1859 stormSep 1730 miTropical storm (61 mph)Category 1
1856Unnamed 1856 stormAug 2067 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm

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

By decade

  • 2020s6
  • 2010s15(1 EF3+)
  • 2000s14
  • 1990s10(2 EF3+)
  • 1980s4
  • 1970s5
  • 1960s2(1 EF3+)
  • 1950s2
Strongest tornadoes near Dunnsville, Virginia
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Oct 18, 1990F318 mi5 mi1 / 0
Feb 24, 2016EF36 mi30.34 mi0 / 25
Aug 6, 1993F323 mi2.9 mi0 / 0
Nov 2, 1966F39 mi0.1 mi0 / 2
May 3, 2021EF215 mi4.41 mi0 / 0
Aug 4, 2020EF221 mi15.61 mi0 / 5
May 2, 1989F223 mi5 mi0 / 0
Aug 31, 1983F28 mi0.2 mi0 / 0
May 11, 1981F214 mi0.2 mi0 / 0
Apr 25, 1975F210 mi0.1 mi0 / 0
Apr 3, 2024EF113 mi5.78 mi0 / 0
Feb 24, 2016EF117 mi4.01 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 58, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Dunnsville

The Storm Prediction Center has 30 hail reports within 10 miles of Dunnsville since 1990, made on 25 separate days. Of these, 14 were 1 inch across or larger, and one reached 2 inches. The largest, 2 inches (hen egg size), fell on August 26, 2003. The most recent report is from June 16, 2023. June has the most reports, 9.

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

Weather by month in Dunnsville

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Warsaw 2 NW, VA, 9 miles north of Dunnsville at 140 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 47°F and 29°F. August is the wettest at 5.0 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.6 inches; the year adds up to 45.3 inches over 75 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 57% of the year's precipitation (25.6 of 45.3 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 52 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (21); a normal September there has highs of 80°F and 4.2 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 44 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 77 nights a year. Snowfall averages 11.5 inches a year, most of it in January. That 45.3 inches is more than at 45 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (41%). Lancaster, 18 miles southeast, has its own station (W Pt 2 NW, VA): 48.1 inches a year, 2.8 more than here, and a July average high of 90°F against 88°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Lewisetta, VA, 21 miles northeast, averaged 83°F in July and 40°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Lewisetta tide gauge, 21 miles from Dunnsville, has risen 2.34 ± 0.11 inches per decade from 1970 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 23.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 130 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Warsaw 2 NW, VA
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Snow inWater °F
Jan47293.064.440
Feb50302.653.342
Mar59373.761.449
Apr70463.270.159
May77553.970.068
Jun84644.470.077
Jul88684.770.083
Aug86665.070.082
Sep80604.260.076
Oct70494.060.066
Nov60393.350.155
Dec50323.362.245
Year684845.37511.562

Averages for 1991–2020 at Warsaw 2 NW, VA (140 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Lewisetta, VA, 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.

Virginia weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Dunnsville

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 153 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Dunnsville: 104 thunderstorm wind reports, 31 heavy rain events, 12 flash floods and 6 floods. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $337,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 69 mph, on January 14, 2006. June has had the most flash floods, 6 of 12. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 101 have had fewer than Dunnsville.

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 Dunnsville's ZIP code 22454 have filed 138 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1985, and were paid $3.7 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Isabel in 2003: 50 claims (36% of all) and $2.6 million, then Tropical Storm Ernesto in 2006 with 41 and Flooding in 1985 with 16. 93% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 183 Virginia cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 147 have fewer than Dunnsville.

Flood insurance claims in Dunnsville by named event
EventClaimsPaid
Hurricane Isabel200350$2.6 million
Tropical Storm Ernesto200641$787,000
Flooding198516$67,000
Hurricane Fran199616$164,000

Essex County, which includes Dunnsville, has been named in 27 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 19 of them major disasters (by incident: 11 hurricanes, 4 severe storms, 4 snowstorms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storm and Snowstorm, on March 11, 2022. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Essex County a Very Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Low for hurricanes, coastal flooding and strong wind; Very Low for tornadoes, hail, inland flooding, lightning and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $5.4 million a year, the 93rd highest of 133 Virginia counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $1.5 million (28%), is from hurricanes.

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 Dunnsville