Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Emerald Isle, NC

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Newport/Morehead City WFO, NC, 11 miles northeast of Emerald Isle at 30 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 71°F; January is the coolest, at 54°F and 34°F. September is the wettest at 9.6 inches of precipitation on average and May the driest at 3.2 inches; the year adds up to 60.7 inches over 86 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 62% of the year's precipitation (37.6 of 60.7 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 134 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (46); a normal September there has highs of 82°F and 9.6 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 18 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 53 nights a year. That 60.7 inches is more than at 126 of the 140 North Carolina stations used on this site (90%). Hubert, 11 miles west, has its own station (New River Mcaf, NC): 56.7 inches a year, 4.0 less than here, and a July average high of 89°F against 87°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Beaufort, Duke Marine Lab, NC, 20 miles east, averaged 84°F in July and 51°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Beaufort tide gauge, 20 miles from Emerald Isle, has risen 1.43 ± 0.07 inches per decade from 1953 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 14.3 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 86 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 85 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Emerald Isle: 64 thunderstorm wind reports, 13 flash floods, 6 floods and 2 heavy rain events. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $581,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 105 mph, on January 12, 1996. September has had the most flash floods, 6 of 13. Of the 472 North Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 186 have had fewer than Emerald Isle.

Flood insurance policyholders in Emerald Isle's ZIP code 28594 have filed 1,694 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1982, and were paid $11.0 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Florence in 2018: 334 claims (20% of all) and $4.7 million, then Hurricane Fran in 1996 with 304 and Hurricane Floyd in 1999 with 283. The year with the most claims was 1996, with 474. 88% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 263 North Carolina cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 246 have fewer than Emerald Isle.