NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Lansdale, 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
33 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Lansdale, Pennsylvania since 1851, 3 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 76 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 3 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 3
- Tropical storms
- 30
- Tornadoes
- 76
- EF3 or stronger
- 3
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
5 deaths in all
What the records show for Lansdale
The strongest storm to pass near Lansdale was an unnamed storm in 1893, a Category 1 hurricane with 87 mph winds when its centre passed 73 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1878, whose centre came within 47 miles. The record near Lansdale begins with an unnamed storm in 1861; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 23 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1870s, with 4 systems, one of them at hurricane strength. Of the 33 systems, 6 have come since 2000. Lansdale has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 89% of the 794 Pennsylvania cities on this site. The highest rating among the 76 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3 or EF3, reached 3 times; the most recent, on July 29, 2021, came within 17 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on July 27, 1994, killed 3 people. Of the 76, 5 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 23 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 18. The most recent tornado was on July 1, 2025. Lansdale has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 77% of the 794 Pennsylvania cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 76 times since 1975, with stones up to 2 inches (hen egg size). Lansdale has more hail reports within 10 miles than 73% of the 794 Pennsylvania cities.
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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Lansdale
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | IdaSep 2 | 23 mi | Tropical storm (41 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2020 | IsaiasAug 4 | 8 mi | Tropical storm (64 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2020 | FayJul 10 | 52 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2012 | SandyOct 30 | 36 mi | Tropical storm (70 mph) | Category 3 |
| 2011 | IreneAug 28 | 60 mi | Tropical storm (66 mph) | Category 3 |
| 2008 | HannaSep 6 | 43 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1999 | FloydSep 16 | 72 mi | Tropical storm (61 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1996 | BerthaJul 13 | 37 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1992 | DanielleSep 26 | 54 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1971 | DoriaAug 28 | 49 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1961 | Unnamed 1961 stormSep 15 | 74 mi | Tropical storm (61 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1960 | BrendaJul 30 | 57 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1955 | DianeAug 19 | 4 mi | Tropical storm (43 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1952 | AbleSep 1 | 21 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1934 | Unnamed 1934 stormJun 19 | 24 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1929 | Unnamed 1929 stormOct 3 | 41 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1924 | Unnamed 1924 stormSep 30 | 50 mi | Tropical storm (70 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormAug 4 | 8 mi | Tropical storm (53 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1904 | Unnamed 1904 stormSep 15 | 71 mi | Category 1 (76 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1903 | Unnamed 1903 stormSep 16 | 16 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1899 | Unnamed 1899 stormNov 1 | 17 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 29 | 25 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 24 | 73 mi | Category 1 (87 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormSep 11 | 58 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormAug 22 | 45 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1882 | Unnamed 1882 stormSep 24 | 70 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1878 | Unnamed 1878 stormOct 23 | 47 mi | Category 1 (85 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1877 | Unnamed 1877 stormOct 5 | 64 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1874 | Unnamed 1874 stormSep 29 | 45 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1872 | Unnamed 1872 stormOct 26 | 44 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1866 | Unnamed 1866 stormOct 30 | 60 mi | Tropical storm (62 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1863 | Unnamed 1863 stormSep 19 | 35 mi | Tropical storm (53 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1861 | Unnamed 1861 stormSep 28 | 54 mi | Tropical storm (66 mph) | Category 1 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Lansdale: 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 Lansdale
By decade
- 2020s17(1 EF3+)
- 2010s4
- 2000s2
- 1990s22(1 EF3+)
- 1980s14
- 1970s7
- 1960s6
- 1950s4(1 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 27, 1994 | F3 | 12 mi | 2 mi | 3 / 25 |
| Mar 22, 1955 | F3 | 16 mi | 9.6 mi | 1 / 0 |
| Jul 29, 2021 | EF3 | 17 mi | 3.4 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 1, 2021 | EF2 | 7 mi | 8.28 mi | 1 / 2 |
| Jul 29, 2021 | EF2 | 20 mi | 6.31 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 4, 2020 | EF2 | 10 mi | 20.77 mi | 0 / 18 |
| Oct 31, 2019 | EF2 | 25 mi | 0.47 mi | 0 / 2 |
| May 31, 1998 | F2 | 16 mi | 5.6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 9, 1989 | F2 | 21 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jul 5, 1984 | F2 | 21 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 5, 1984 | F2 | 23 mi | 8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 3, 1975 | F2 | 22 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 76, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Lansdale
The Storm Prediction Center has 76 hail reports within 10 miles of Lansdale since 1975, made on 46 separate days. Of these, 32 were 1 inch across or larger, and one reached 2 inches. The largest, 2 inches (hen egg size), fell on November 17, 1977. The most recent report is from August 18, 2024. June has the most reports, 21.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Lansdale
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Graterford 1 E, PA, 7 miles west of Lansdale at 279 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 64°F; January is the coolest, at 40°F and 20°F. July is the wettest at 5.0 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.6 inches; the year adds up to 48.6 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 (26.6 of 48.6 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 33 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (14); a normal September there has highs of 78°F and 4.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 21 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 137 nights a year. Snowfall averages 12.9 inches a year, most of it in February. That 48.6 inches is more than at 120 of the 148 Pennsylvania stations used on this site (81%). North Wales, 3 miles east, has its own station (Norristown, PA): 50.7 inches a year, 2.1 more than here, and a July average high of 89°F against 86°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Bridesburg, PA, 21 miles southeast, averaged 80°F in July and 38°F in February over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July. Sea level at the Philadelphia tide gauge, 23 miles from Lansdale, has risen 1.24 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1900 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 12.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 73 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 40 | 20 | 3.3 | 6 | 3.9 | 38 |
| Feb | 42 | 22 | 2.6 | 5 | 5.4 | 38 |
| Mar | 50 | 29 | 3.9 | 6 | 1.3 | 46 |
| Apr | 62 | 39 | 3.8 | 7 | 0.1 | 54 |
| May | 72 | 49 | 4.0 | 8 | 0.0 | 63 |
| Jun | 81 | 59 | 4.2 | 7 | 0.0 | 73 |
| Jul | 86 | 64 | 5.0 | 7 | 0.0 | 80 |
| Aug | 84 | 61 | 4.6 | 7 | 0.0 | 79 |
| Sep | 78 | 53 | 4.9 | 6 | 0.0 | 73 |
| Oct | 66 | 41 | 4.5 | 7 | 0.0 | 64 |
| Nov | 55 | 32 | 3.4 | 6 | 0.0 | 53 |
| Dec | 45 | 25 | 4.4 | 7 | 2.2 | 42 |
| Year | 64 | 41 | 48.6 | 80 | 12.9 | 59 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Graterford 1 E, PA (279 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Bridesburg, PA, from NOAA Tides & Currents. 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 Lansdale
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 410 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Lansdale: 305 thunderstorm wind reports, 58 flash floods, 30 floods, 14 lightning strikes and 3 heavy rain events. They killed 2 people and injured 9, and the NWS estimated $22.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 109 mph, on October 31, 2019. June has had the most flash floods, 16 of 58. Of the 788 Pennsylvania cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 553 have had fewer than Lansdale.
June 10, 2008: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Lansdale — 1 killed, $200,000 damage.
August 4, 2020: flash flood 3 miles from the centre of Lansdale — 1 killed, $4,000 damage.
NWS: “A 5-year-old girl with autism was swept away by flood waters running through a tributary of Towamencin Creek after wandering away from her nearby family home. Rescuers found the victim's body adjacent to the creek in Fischer's Park after a 22-hour search.”
June 30, 1998: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Lansdale — 3 injured.
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 Lansdale's ZIP code 19446 have filed 41 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $788,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 51% 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, 240 have fewer than Lansdale.
Montgomery County, which includes Lansdale, has been named in 29 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 21 of them major disasters (by incident: 8 hurricanes, 7 floods, 6 severe storms, 4 snowstorms). The latest major disaster declaration was Remnants of Hurricane Ida, on September 10, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Montgomery County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for strong wind; Relatively High for tornadoes, inland flooding and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes and lightning; Relatively Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $296.7 million a year, the 3rd highest of 67 Pennsylvania counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $192.6 million (65%), 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.
Cities near Lansdale
- North Wales, PA3 mi
- Hatfield, PA3 mi
- Souderton, PA5 mi
- Chalfont, PA5 mi
- Harleysville, PA5 mi
- Blue Bell, PA6 mi
- Ambler, PA6 mi
- Telford, PA7 mi
- Norristown, PA8 mi
- Warrington, PA8 mi
- Plymouth Meeting, PA8 mi
- Fort Washington, PA8 mi
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