Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Gloucester, VA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is N, VA, 5 miles east of Gloucester at 4 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 70°F; January is the coolest, at 47°F and 29°F. July is the wettest at 5.8 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.9 inches; the year adds up to 51.9 inches over 80 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 56% of the year's precipitation (28.9 of 51.9 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 68 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (26); a normal September there has highs of 78°F and 5.1 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 16 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 77 nights a year. Snowfall averages 8.5 inches a year, most of it in January. That 51.9 inches is more than at 102 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (94%). Saluda, 12 miles north, has its own station (W Pt 2 NW, VA): 48.1 inches a year, 3.8 less than here, and a July average high of 90°F against 85°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Yorktown USCG Training Center, VA, 13 miles south, averaged 81°F in July and 43°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Yorktown tide gauge, 13 miles from Gloucester, has risen 1.91 ± 0.06 inches per decade from 1950 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 19.1 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 116 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 140 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Gloucester: 79 thunderstorm wind reports, 54 heavy rain events, 4 floods and 3 flash floods. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $382,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on March 5, 2025.

Flood insurance policyholders in Gloucester's ZIP code 23061 have filed 326 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $7.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Isabel in 2003: 207 claims (63% of all) and $6.6 million, then November 2009 Nor'easter in 2009 with 27 and Tropical Storm Ernesto in 2006 with 22. 92% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 183 Virginia cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 166 have fewer than Gloucester.