Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Holly Ridge, NC

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is New River Mcaf, NC, 18 miles northeast of Holly Ridge at 26 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 73°F; January is the coolest, at 56°F and 35°F. August and September are the wettest at 7.5 inches of precipitation on average and April the driest at 3.4 inches; the year adds up to 56.7 inches over 81 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 60% of the year's precipitation (34.1 of 56.7 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 121 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (44); a normal September there has highs of 83°F and 7.5 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 44 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 43 nights a year. Snowfall averages 0.6 inches a year, most of it in January. That 56.7 inches is more than at 111 of the 140 North Carolina stations used on this site (79%). Hampstead, 7 miles southwest, has its own station (Wilmington 7 N, NC): 63.5 inches a year, 6.8 more than here, and the same July average high, 89°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Wrightsville Beach, NC, 22 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, 28 miles from Holly Ridge, 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 63 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Holly Ridge: 33 thunderstorm wind reports, 16 flash floods, 7 floods, 5 lightning strikes and 2 heavy rain events. They killed 1 person and injured 10, and the NWS estimated $343,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on January 9, 2024. September has had the most flash floods, 12 of 16. Of the 472 North Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 231 have had fewer than Holly Ridge.

Flood insurance policyholders in Holly Ridge's ZIP code 28445 have filed 5,547 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $56.1 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Fran in 1996: 1,821 claims (33% of all) and $31.9 million, then Hurricane Floyd in 1999 with 1,212 and Hurricane Florence in 2018 with 860. 91% 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, 262 have fewer than Holly Ridge.