Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Leland, NC

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Wilmington International Airport, NC, 10 miles east of Leland at 33 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 90°F and low of 73°F; January is the coolest, at 57°F and 36°F. September is the wettest at 8.7 inches of precipitation on average and April the driest at 3.1 inches; the year adds up to 60.4 inches over 79 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 63% of the year's precipitation (37.8 of 60.4 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 117 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (41); a normal September there has highs of 84°F and 8.7 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 45 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 37 nights a year. Snowfall averages 0.9 inches a year, most of it in January. That 60.4 inches is more than at 125 of the 140 North Carolina stations used on this site (89%). Winnabow, 10 miles south, has its own station (Southport 5 N, NC): 54.6 inches a year, 5.8 less than here, and a July average high of 92°F against 90°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Wilmington, NC, 7 miles east, averaged 84°F in July and 49°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from June to August. Sea level at the Wilmington tide gauge, 7 miles from Leland, has risen 1.10 ± 0.07 inches per decade from 1935 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 11.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 64 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 198 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Leland: 83 thunderstorm wind reports, 51 flash floods, 25 floods, 22 heavy rain events and 17 lightning strikes. They killed 2 people and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $5.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 92 mph, on September 8, 1998. September has had the most flash floods, 25 of 51. Of the 472 North Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 443 have had fewer than Leland.

Flood insurance policyholders in Leland's ZIP code 28451 have filed 174 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1981, and were paid $9.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Florence in 2018: 90 claims (52% of all) and $5.7 million, then Tropical Cyclone Eight in 2024 with 31 and Hurricane Floyd in 1999 with 19. 92% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 263 North Carolina cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 202 have fewer than Leland.