Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Essington, PA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Philadelphia International Airport, PA, 3 miles east of Essington 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 40 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%). Eddystone, 3 miles west, has its own station (Marcus Hook, PA): 41.8 inches a year, 2.4 less than here, and a July average high of 89°F against 88°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Marcus Hook, PA, 7 miles southwest, averaged 82°F in July and 39°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Philadelphia tide gauge, 9 miles from Essington, 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.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 763 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Essington: 493 thunderstorm wind reports, 173 flash floods, 61 floods, 25 lightning strikes and 11 heavy rain events. They killed 6 people and injured 26, and the NWS estimated $41.7 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 105 mph, on April 4, 2025. July has had the most flash floods, 51 of 173. Of the 788 Pennsylvania cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 731 have had fewer than Essington.

Flood insurance policyholders in Essington's ZIP code 19029 have filed 90 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1981, and were paid $692,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Floyd in 1999: 43 claims (48% of all) and $261,000. 64% 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, 359 have fewer than Essington.