Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Joppa, MD

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Aberdeen Phillips Field, MD, 10 miles east of Joppa at 57 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 42°F and 25°F. July and September are the wettest at 4.8 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 47.2 inches. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (25.6 of 47.2 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 31 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (11); a normal September there has highs of 78°F and 4.8 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 26 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 83 nights a year. That 47.2 inches is more than at 26 of the 41 Maryland stations used on this site (63%). White Marsh, 4 miles southwest, has its own station (Md Sci Ctr Baltimore, MD): 44.0 inches a year, 3.2 less than here, and a July average high of 90°F against 86°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Tolchester Beach, MD, 16 miles south, averaged 83°F in July and 39°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Tolchester Beach tide gauge, 16 miles from Joppa, has risen 1.70 ± 0.17 inches per decade from 1971 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 17.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 107 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 532 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Joppa: 314 thunderstorm wind reports, 143 flash floods, 70 floods and 5 lightning strikes. They killed 3 people and injured 12, and the NWS estimated $2.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 90 mph, on May 29, 2019. July has had the most flash floods, 51 of 143. Of the 239 Maryland cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 197 have had fewer than Joppa.

Flood insurance policyholders in Joppa's ZIP code 21085 have filed 51 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $385,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Isabel in 2003: 13 claims (25% of all) and $195,000. 51% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 150 Maryland cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 81 have fewer than Joppa.