Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Essex, MD

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Md Sci Ctr Baltimore, MD, 9 miles west of Essex 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 34 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%). Kingsville, 10 miles north, has its own station (Aberdeen Phillips Field, MD): 47.2 inches a year, 3.2 more than here, and a July average high of 86°F against 90°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Baltimore, MD, 7 miles southwest, 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, 7 miles from Essex, 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.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 500 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Essex: 265 thunderstorm wind reports, 168 flash floods, 66 floods and 1 lightning strike. They killed 1 person and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $3.0 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, 68 of 168. Of the 239 Maryland cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 206 have had fewer than Essex.

Flood insurance policyholders in Essex's ZIP code 21221 have filed 197 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $2.8 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Isabel in 2003: 115 claims (58% of all) and $2.3 million. 68% 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, 131 have fewer than Essex.