NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Lake Ariel, PA
Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
15 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania since 1851, 1 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Isaias in 2020. Since 1950, 43 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 2 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 1
- Tropical storms
- 14
- Tornadoes
- 43
- EF3 or stronger
- 2
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
2 deaths in all
What the records show for Lake Ariel
The strongest storm to pass near Lake Ariel was an unnamed storm in 1878, a Category 1 hurricane with 81 mph winds when its centre passed 3 miles away. The record near Lake Ariel begins with an unnamed storm in 1863; the most recent system was Isaias in 2020, a tropical storm 30 miles away. Of the 15 systems, one has come since 2000. Of the 794 Pennsylvania cities on this site, 45% have more hurricanes within 75 miles than Lake Ariel. The highest rating among the 43 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 2 times; the most recent, on June 2, 1998, came within 23 miles. Of the 43, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 19 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 13. The most recent tornado was on May 27, 2024. Of the 794 Pennsylvania cities, 74% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Lake Ariel. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 31 times since 1975, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). Of the 794 Pennsylvania cities, 70% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Lake Ariel.
Compare Lake Ariel's storm record with another city →
Tropical storms and hurricanes near Lake Ariel
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | IsaiasAug 4 | 30 mi | Tropical storm (62 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1979 | DavidSep 6 | 36 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1972 | AgnesJun 23 | 50 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1952 | AbleSep 1 | 46 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1949 | Unnamed 1949 stormAug 29 | 13 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1933 | Unnamed 1933 stormAug 24 | 64 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1929 | Unnamed 1929 stormOct 3 | 7 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormAug 4 | 62 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1903 | Unnamed 1903 stormSep 17 | 18 mi | Tropical storm (61 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1899 | Unnamed 1899 stormNov 1 | 34 mi | Tropical storm (55 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 29 | 36 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormAug 22 | 34 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1878 | Unnamed 1878 stormOct 23 | 3 mi | Category 1 (81 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1866 | Unnamed 1866 stormOct 30 | 73 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1863 | Unnamed 1863 stormSep 19 | 73 mi | Tropical storm (49 mph) | Tropical storm |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Lake Ariel: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Lake Ariel
By decade
- 2020s2
- 2010s15
- 2000s2
- 1990s16(2 EF3+)
- 1980s3
- 1970s2
- 1960s1
- 1950s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2, 1998 | F3 | 23 mi | 26 mi | 2 / 15 |
| May 31, 1998 | F3 | 18 mi | 20 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Feb 25, 2017 | EF2 | 12 mi | 12.52 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 23, 2010 | EF2 | 14 mi | 25.72 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 31, 1998 | F2 | 12 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 31, 1998 | F2 | 12 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 18, 1991 | F2 | 25 mi | 4 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 13, 1972 | F2 | 19 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 4, 1960 | F2 | 19 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 17, 1954 | F2 | 21 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 27, 2024 | EF1 | 22 mi | 0.4 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 28, 2019 | EF1 | 20 mi | 0.79 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 43, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Lake Ariel
The Storm Prediction Center has 31 hail reports within 10 miles of Lake Ariel since 1975, made on 17 separate days. Of these, 16 were 1 inch across or larger, and one reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.75 inches (baseball size), fell on June 24, 1985. The most recent report is from July 13, 2023. July has the most reports, 11.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Lake Ariel
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Hawley 1 E, PA, 12 miles east of Lake Ariel at 890 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 81°F and low of 57°F; January is the coolest, at 33°F and 14°F. June is the wettest at 4.7 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.7 inches; the year adds up to 45.2 inches over 80 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 55% of the year's precipitation (24.8 of 45.2 inches); the other six months are drier. August has brought the most of the 15 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (6); a normal August there has highs of 79°F and 4.1 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 6 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 164 nights a year. Snowfall averages 47.1 inches a year, most of it in February. That 45.2 inches is more than at 78 of the 148 Pennsylvania stations used on this site (53%). Moscow, 9 miles southwest, has its own station (Wilkes-Barre International Airport, PA): 39.0 inches a year, 6.2 less than here, and a July average high of 85°F against 81°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 33 | 14 | 3.2 | 7 | 13.0 |
| Feb | 36 | 14 | 2.7 | 6 | 13.2 |
| Mar | 45 | 22 | 3.6 | 7 | 9.4 |
| Apr | 58 | 32 | 3.7 | 8 | 1.1 |
| May | 69 | 43 | 3.6 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 77 | 53 | 4.7 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 81 | 57 | 4.1 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 79 | 55 | 4.1 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 73 | 48 | 4.3 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 61 | 36 | 4.4 | 6 | 0.0 |
| Nov | 49 | 27 | 3.2 | 5 | 1.3 |
| Dec | 38 | 20 | 3.6 | 7 | 9.1 |
| Year | 58 | 35 | 45.2 | 80 | 47.1 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Hawley 1 E, PA (890 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Lake Ariel
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 103 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Lake Ariel: 74 thunderstorm wind reports, 25 flash floods and 4 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 3, and the NWS estimated $893,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on April 15, 2019. July has had the most flash floods, 11 of 25. Of the 788 Pennsylvania cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 384 have had fewer than Lake Ariel.
August 16, 1997: thunderstorm wind 2 miles from the centre of Lake Ariel — 1 killed, $45,000 damage.
NWS: “Severe thunderstorms continued to plow eastward across northern Pennsylvania and produced more extensive wind damage over southern sections of the county. Many large trees and power lines were toppled in an area from Lake Ariel eastward to the Hawley vicinity.”
July 27, 2007: lightning strike 2 miles from the centre of Lake Ariel — 3 injured, $1,000 damage.
NWS: “Three people were struck by lightning in Hamlin.”
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Flood insurance policyholders in Lake Ariel's ZIP code 18436 have filed 14 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1984, and were paid $156,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 57% 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, 58 have fewer than Lake Ariel.
Wayne County, which includes Lake Ariel, has been named in 25 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 19 of them major disasters (by incident: 6 floods, 6 hurricanes, 6 severe storms, 3 snowstorms). The latest major disaster declaration was Tropical Storm Debby, on September 11, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Wayne County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for strong wind; Relatively Low for hurricanes, tornadoes, inland flooding and lightning; Very Low for hail and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $17.2 million a year, the 49th highest of 67 Pennsylvania counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $12.7 million (74%), is from inland flooding.
Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.