Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Lancaster, VA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is W Pt 2 NW, VA, 19 miles southwest of Lancaster at 20 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 90°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 49°F and 28°F. July and September are the wettest at 4.9 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 48.1 inches over 77 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (26.2 of 48.1 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 60 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (23); a normal September there has highs of 82°F and 4.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 50 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 83 nights a year. Snowfall averages 9.6 inches a year, most of it in January. That 48.1 inches is more than at 86 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (79%). Kilmarnock, 9 miles east, has its own station (N, VA): 51.9 inches a year, 3.8 more than here, and a July average high of 85°F against 90°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Lewisetta, VA, 18 miles north, averaged 83°F in July and 40°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Windmill Point tide gauge, 15 miles from Lancaster, has risen 2.55 ± 0.20 inches per decade from 1982 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 25.5 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 138 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 199 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Lancaster: 116 thunderstorm wind reports, 49 heavy rain events, 27 flash floods, 6 floods and 1 lightning strike. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $3.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 75 mph, on April 16, 2011. July has had the most flash floods, 11 of 27. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 231 have had fewer than Lancaster.

Flood insurance policyholders in Lancaster's ZIP code 22503 have filed 66 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1985, and were paid $741,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Isabel in 2003: 31 claims (47% of all) and $502,000, then Tropical Storm Ernesto in 2006 with 21. 89% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 183 Virginia cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 113 have fewer than Lancaster.