Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Hampstead, NC

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Wilmington 7 N, NC, 16 miles west of Hampstead at 40 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 71°F; January is the coolest, at 56°F and 33°F. September is the wettest at 9.7 inches of precipitation on average and April the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 63.5 inches over 82 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 62% of the year's precipitation (39.6 of 63.5 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 123 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (44); a normal September there has highs of 83°F and 9.7 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 58 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 56 nights a year. That 63.5 inches is more than at 128 of the 140 North Carolina stations used on this site (91%). Holly Ridge, 7 miles northeast, has its own station (New River Mcaf, NC): 56.7 inches a year, 6.8 less than here, and the same July average high, 89°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Wrightsville Beach, NC, 16 miles southwest, averaged 82°F in August and 52°F in February over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Wilmington tide gauge, 21 miles from Hampstead, has risen 1.10 ± 0.07 inches per decade from 1935 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 11.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 64 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 85 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Hampstead: 47 thunderstorm wind reports, 17 flash floods, 11 floods, 8 lightning strikes and 2 heavy rain events. They killed 2 people and injured 10, and the NWS estimated $678,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on September 22, 2003. September has had the most flash floods, 13 of 17. Of the 472 North Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 247 have had fewer than Hampstead.

Flood insurance policyholders in Hampstead's ZIP code 28443 have filed 399 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1988, and were paid $8.3 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Florence in 2018: 182 claims (46% of all) and $6.1 million, then Hurricane Fran in 1996 with 103 and Hurricane Floyd in 1999 with 59. 94% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 263 North Carolina cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 217 have fewer than Hampstead.