Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Fernandina Beach, FL

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Fernandina Beach, FL, 2 miles north of Fernandina Beach at 49 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 75°F; January is the coolest, at 64°F and 45°F. September is the wettest at 7.2 inches of precipitation on average and November the driest at 1.9 inches; the year adds up to 50.0 inches over 77 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 63% of the year's precipitation (31.6 of 50.0 inches); the other six months are drier. October has brought the most of the 89 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (29); a normal October there has highs of 80°F and 5.0 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 45 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 5 nights a year. That 50.0 inches is more than at 19 of the 125 Florida stations used on this site (15%). Saint Marys, GA, 10 miles northwest, has its own station (Brunswick 23 S, GA): 47.2 inches a year, 2.8 less than here, and a July average high of 89°F against 91°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Mayport (Bar Pilots Dock), FL, 17 miles south, averaged 84°F in August and 59°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from June to September. Sea level at the Fernandina Beach tide gauge, 2 miles from Fernandina Beach, has risen 0.91 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1897 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 9.1 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 53 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 170 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Fernandina Beach: 123 thunderstorm wind reports, 37 heavy rain events, 4 floods, 4 lightning strikes and 2 flash floods. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $376,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 115 mph, on July 13, 1999.

Flood insurance policyholders in Fernandina Beach's ZIP code 32034 have filed 646 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $6.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Matthew in 2016: 92 claims (14% of all) and $1.5 million, then Flooding in 1992 with 82 and Hurricane Floyd in 1999 with 78. 67% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 340 Florida cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 216 have fewer than Fernandina Beach.