Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Forest Hill, MD

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Conowingo Dam, MD, 13 miles northeast of Forest Hill at 40 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 69°F; January is the coolest, at 40°F and 25°F. September is the wettest at 5.1 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.6 inches; the year adds up to 48.2 inches over 82 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 55% of the year's precipitation (26.5 of 48.2 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 31 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (10); a normal September there has highs of 79°F and 5.1 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 37 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 106 nights a year. That 48.2 inches is more than at 36 of the 41 Maryland stations used on this site (88%). Fallston, 4 miles southwest, has its own station (Aberdeen Phillips Field, MD): 47.2 inches a year, 1.0 less than here, and a July average high of 86°F against 88°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Baltimore, MD, 24 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, 24 miles from Forest Hill, 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 573 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Forest Hill: 424 thunderstorm wind reports, 95 flash floods, 49 floods and 5 lightning strikes. They killed 3 people and injured 13, and the NWS estimated $3.7 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 90 mph, on May 29, 2019. August has had the most flash floods, 31 of 95. Of the 239 Maryland cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 175 have had fewer than Forest Hill.

Flood insurance policyholders in Forest Hill's ZIP code 21050 have filed 21 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $197,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 24% 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, 30 have fewer than Forest Hill.