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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Lansdowne, 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

39 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Lansdowne, Pennsylvania since 1851, 3 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 95 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 5 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
3

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
36

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
95

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
5

6 deaths in all

What the records show for Lansdowne

The strongest storm to pass near Lansdowne was an unnamed storm in 1893, a Category 1 hurricane with 89 mph winds when its centre passed 72 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1904, whose centre came within 54 miles. The record near Lansdowne begins with an unnamed storm in 1861; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 3 miles away. Of the 39 systems, 8 have come since 2000. Lansdowne has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 89% of the 794 Pennsylvania cities on this site. The highest rating among the 95 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3 or EF3, reached 5 times; the most recent, on September 1, 2021, came within 12 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on July 27, 1994, killed 3 people. Of the 95, 2 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 30 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 23. The most recent tornado was on May 16, 2025. Lansdowne has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 98% of the 794 Pennsylvania cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 106 times since 1957, with stones up to 1.75 inches (golf ball size). Lansdowne has more hail reports within 10 miles than 89% of the 794 Pennsylvania cities.

Compare Lansdowne's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Lansdowne

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2021IdaSep 23 miTropical storm (41 mph)Category 4
2021ElsaJul 965 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
2020IsaiasAug 417 miTropical storm (64 mph)Category 1
2020FayJul 1049 miTropical storm (45 mph)Tropical storm
2013AndreaJun 871 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
2012SandyOct 3017 miTropical storm (71 mph)Category 3
2011IreneAug 2854 miTropical storm (67 mph)Category 3
2008HannaSep 630 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
1999FloydSep 1661 miTropical storm (62 mph)Category 4
1996BerthaJul 1324 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1992DanielleSep 2641 miTropical storm (39 mph)Tropical storm
1971DoriaAug 2839 miTropical storm (64 mph)Tropical storm
1961Unnamed 1961 stormSep 1562 miTropical storm (60 mph)Tropical storm
1960BrendaJul 3045 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1955DianeAug 1924 miTropical storm (41 mph)Category 2
1952AbleSep 137 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1944Unnamed 1944 stormAug 364 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1934Unnamed 1934 stormJun 195 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1929Unnamed 1929 stormOct 350 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 4
1924Unnamed 1924 stormSep 3041 miTropical storm (70 mph)Category 1
1916Unnamed 1916 stormMay 1772 miTropical storm (53 mph)Tropical storm
1915Unnamed 1915 stormAug 425 miTropical storm (53 mph)Category 1
1904Unnamed 1904 stormSep 1554 miCategory 1 (76 mph)Category 1
1903Unnamed 1903 stormSep 1619 miTropical storm (68 mph)Category 2
1902Unnamed 1902 stormJun 1672 miTropical storm (45 mph)Tropical storm
1900Unnamed 1900 stormOct 1473 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1899Unnamed 1899 stormNov 130 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2940 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2472 miCategory 1 (89 mph)Category 3
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 1143 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1888Unnamed 1888 stormAug 2265 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 3
1882Unnamed 1882 stormSep 2455 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1878Unnamed 1878 stormOct 2358 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 2
1877Unnamed 1877 stormOct 547 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1874Unnamed 1874 stormSep 2932 miTropical storm (62 mph)Category 1
1872Unnamed 1872 stormOct 2630 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1866Unnamed 1866 stormOct 3056 miTropical storm (63 mph)Tropical storm
1863Unnamed 1863 stormSep 1925 miTropical storm (53 mph)Tropical storm
1861Unnamed 1861 stormSep 2842 miTropical storm (67 mph)Category 1

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Lansdowne: 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 Lansdowne

By decade

  • 2020s16(2 EF3+)
  • 2010s9
  • 2000s5
  • 1990s24(1 EF3+)
  • 1980s17
  • 1970s9
  • 1960s8(1 EF3+)
  • 1950s7(1 EF3+)
Strongest tornadoes near Lansdowne, Pennsylvania
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Jul 27, 1994F324 mi2 mi3 / 25
Mar 22, 1955F313 mi9.6 mi1 / 0
Sep 1, 2021EF312 mi12.37 mi0 / 2
Jul 29, 2021EF319 mi3.4 mi0 / 0
Apr 28, 1961F325 mi0.3 mi0 / 0
Sep 1, 2021EF212 mi8.28 mi1 / 2
Aug 4, 2020EF219 mi20.77 mi0 / 18
Oct 31, 2019EF213 mi0.47 mi0 / 2
Sep 28, 2004F222 mi5 mi0 / 0
May 31, 1998F218 mi5.6 mi0 / 0
Jul 17, 1992F224 mi4 mi0 / 0
Oct 18, 1990F220 mi1 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 95, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Lansdowne

The Storm Prediction Center has 106 hail reports within 10 miles of Lansdowne since 1957, made on 64 separate days. Of these, 49 were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest size, 1.75 inches (golf ball size), was reported on 7 days, most recently June 24, 2010. The most recent report is from May 3, 2025. May has the most reports, 26.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.

Radar-estimated hail days in Lansdowne since 2019 →

Weather by month in Lansdowne

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Phila Franklin Inst, PA, 5 miles east of Lansdowne at 60 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 71°F; January is the coolest, at 42°F and 28°F. August is the wettest at 5.0 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 50.9 inches over 82 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (27.1 of 50.9 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 39 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (14); a normal September there has highs of 80°F and 4.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 40 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 62 nights a year. Snowfall averages 16.1 inches a year, most of it in January. That 50.9 inches is more than at 136 of the 148 Pennsylvania stations used on this site (92%). Darby, 2 miles south, has its own station (Philadelphia International Airport, PA): 44.2 inches a year, 6.7 less than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 89°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Philadelphia, PA, 7 miles east, 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, 7 miles from Lansdowne, 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.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Phila Franklin Inst, PA
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Snow inWater °F
Jan42283.676.438
Feb45303.364.038
Mar54364.572.045
Apr66464.070.154
May76564.180.063
Jun85664.880.073
Jul89714.870.080
Aug87705.070.079
Sep80634.960.074
Oct68514.260.065
Nov56413.460.154
Dec47334.373.543
Year664950.98216.159

Averages for 1991–2020 at Phila Franklin Inst, PA (60 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Philadelphia, 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.

Pennsylvania weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Lansdowne

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 915 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Lansdowne: 577 thunderstorm wind reports, 220 flash floods, 80 floods, 25 lightning strikes and 13 heavy rain events. They killed 10 people and injured 36, and the NWS estimated $109.2 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 105 mph, on April 4, 2025. July has had the most flash floods, 66 of 220. Of the 788 Pennsylvania cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 768 have had fewer than Lansdowne.

  • December 19, 2025: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Lansdowne — 2 killed, $20,000 damage.

  • October 14, 2003: thunderstorm wind 6 miles from the centre of Lansdowne — 1 killed, 1 injured.

  • July 28, 2013: flash flood 1 mile from the centre of Lansdowne — 1 killed, 1 injured.

    NWS: “Thunderstorms with very heavy rain caused urban and poor drainage flash flooding in Philadelphia. Multiple ramps of Interstate 95 around Broad Street were closed.”

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 Lansdowne's ZIP code 19050 have filed 40 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $183,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 35% 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, 235 have fewer than Lansdowne.

Delaware County, which includes Lansdowne, has been named in 24 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 16 of them major disasters (by incident: 7 hurricanes, 6 floods, 4 severe storms, 3 snowstorms). The latest major disaster declaration was Remnants of Hurricane Ida, on September 10, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Delaware County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for tornadoes, inland flooding, strong wind, lightning and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes and coastal flooding; Very Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $134.9 million a year, the 7th highest of 67 Pennsylvania counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $73.9 million (55%), 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 Lansdowne