Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Gibsonton, FL

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Tampa Bay Area WFO, FL, 9 miles south of Gibsonton at 40 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 74°F; January is the coolest, at 72°F and 51°F. August is the wettest at 8.8 inches of precipitation on average and November the driest at 2.0 inches; the year adds up to 53.7 inches over 72 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 70% of the year's precipitation (37.5 of 53.7 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 71 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (24); a normal September there has highs of 90°F and 7.7 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 97 days a year, almost all from April to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 2 nights a year. That 53.7 inches is more than at 58 of the 125 Florida stations used on this site (46%). Brandon, 8 miles northeast, has its own station (Plant City, FL): 56.2 inches a year, 2.5 more than here, and an August average high of 94°F against 91°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station East Bay, FL, 7 miles northwest, averaged 89°F in July and 64°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from May to October. Sea level at the East Bay tide gauge, 7 miles from Gibsonton, has risen 2.17 ± 0.16 inches per decade from 1976 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 21.7 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 125 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 131 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Gibsonton: 100 thunderstorm wind reports, 17 lightning strikes, 8 floods and 6 heavy rain events. They killed 0 people and injured 5, and the NWS estimated $5.8 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 71 mph, on February 26, 2013.

Flood insurance policyholders in Gibsonton's ZIP code 33534 have filed 288 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1982, and were paid $13.0 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Helene in 2024: 96 claims (33% of all) and $8.9 million, then Flooding in 1997 with 23 and Hurricane Milton in 2024 with 22. 88% 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, 173 have fewer than Gibsonton.