Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Gray, LA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Thibodaux 4 SE, LA, 4 miles north of Gray at 15 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 92°F and low of 75°F; January is the coolest, at 64°F and 45°F. June is the wettest at 8.7 inches of precipitation on average and November the driest at 3.8 inches; the year adds up to 71.3 inches over 89 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 56% of the year's precipitation (40.1 of 71.3 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 80 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (31); a normal September there has highs of 89°F and 6.0 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 83 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 11 nights a year. That 71.3 inches is more than at 80 of the 81 Louisiana stations used on this site (99%). Houma, 8 miles southeast, has its own station (Houma, LA): 65.6 inches a year, 5.7 less than here, and a July average high of 91°F against 92°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station West Bank 1, Bayou Gauche, LA, 22 miles east, averaged 88°F in July and August and 56°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from May to September. Sea level at the New Canal tide gauge, 46 miles from Gray, has risen 2.36 ± 0.19 inches per decade from 1982 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 23.6 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 131 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 96 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Gray: 60 thunderstorm wind reports, 27 flash floods, 7 lightning strikes and 2 heavy rain events. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $1.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 69 mph, on November 18, 2003. June has had the most flash floods, 9 of 27. Of the 239 Louisiana cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 174 have had fewer than Gray.

Flood insurance policyholders in Gray's ZIP code 70359 have filed 121 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1980, and were paid $1.2 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1991: 12 claims (10% of all) and $90,000, then Hurricane Andrew in 1992 with 10 and Hurricane Ida in 2021 with 10. The year with the most claims was 2009, with 27. 51% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 219 Louisiana cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 84 have fewer than Gray.