Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Hilton Head Island, SC

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Beaufort Mcas, SC, 20 miles north of Hilton Head Island at 37 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 92°F and low of 75°F; January is the coolest, at 60°F and 40°F. August is the wettest at 6.5 inches of precipitation on average and May and November the driest at 2.5 inches; the year adds up to 45.1 inches over 68 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 61% of the year's precipitation (27.4 of 45.1 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 102 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (32); a normal September there has highs of 86°F and 4.0 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 73 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 17 nights a year. That 45.1 inches is more than at 12 of the 78 South Carolina stations used on this site (15%). Tybee Island, GA, 15 miles southwest, has its own station (Savannah International Airport, GA): 48.3 inches a year, 3.2 more than here, and the same July average high, 92°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Fort Pulaski, GA, 15 miles southwest, averaged 85°F in July and 54°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from June to September. Sea level at the Fort Pulaski tide gauge, 15 miles from Hilton Head Island, has risen 1.44 ± 0.05 inches per decade from 1935 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 14.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 88 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 151 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Hilton Head Island: 117 thunderstorm wind reports, 15 flash floods, 15 lightning strikes, 3 heavy rain events and 1 flood. They killed 1 person and injured 9, and the NWS estimated $338,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 92 mph, on June 12, 2009. September has had the most flash floods, 5 of 15. Of the 241 South Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 171 have had fewer than Hilton Head Island.

Flood insurance policyholders in Hilton Head Island's 2 ZIP codes have filed 2,700 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $47.6 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Matthew in 2016: 1,514 claims (56% of all) and $38.8 million, then Flooding in 1994 with 297 and Hurricane Irma in 2017 with 238. 78% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 110 South Carolina cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 105 have fewer than Hilton Head Island.