Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Kingston, PA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Wilkes-Barre International Airport, PA, 9 miles northeast of Kingston at 930 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 63°F; January is the coolest, at 36°F and 20°F. September is the wettest at 4.2 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.1 inches; the year adds up to 39.0 inches over 80 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 57% of the year's precipitation (22.1 of 39.0 inches); the other six months are drier. August has brought the most of the 15 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (7); a normal August there has highs of 82°F and 3.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 12 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 122 nights a year. Snowfall averages 45.1 inches a year, most of it in January. That 39.0 inches is more than at 9 of the 148 Pennsylvania stations used on this site (6%). Hunlock Creek, 10 miles west, has its own station (Benton 3 NE, PA): 48.6 inches a year, 9.6 more than here, and a July average high of 80°F against 85°F.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 220 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Kingston: 132 thunderstorm wind reports, 70 flash floods, 12 floods and 6 lightning strikes. They killed 0 people and injured 8, and the NWS estimated $54.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 96 mph, on April 28, 2011. July has had the most flash floods, 19 of 70. Of the 788 Pennsylvania cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 591 have had fewer than Kingston.

Flood insurance policyholders in Kingston's ZIP code 18704 have filed 407 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $3.4 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1996: 45 claims (11% of all) and $914,000, then Not a named storm in 1979 with 39 and Tropical Storm Lee in 2011 with 36. The year with the most claims was 1979, with 58. 38% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 553 Pennsylvania cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 517 have fewer than Kingston.