Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Little River, SC

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is N Myrtle Bch Airport, SC, 6 miles southwest of Little River at 32 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 74°F; January is the coolest, at 56°F and 37°F. September is the wettest at 6.7 inches of precipitation on average and April the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 48.7 inches over 71 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 62% of the year's precipitation (30.0 of 48.7 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 109 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (41); a normal September there has highs of 83°F and 6.7 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 21 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 34 nights a year. That 48.7 inches is more than at 40 of the 78 South Carolina stations used on this site (51%). Calabash, NC, 4 miles northeast, has its own station (Longwood, NC): 57.2 inches a year, 8.5 more than here, and the same July average high, 88°F.

Sea level at the Springmaid Pier tide gauge, 22 miles from Little River, has risen 1.32 ± 0.09 inches per decade from 1957 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 13.2 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 78 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 81 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Little River: 37 thunderstorm wind reports, 19 flash floods, 13 floods, 9 lightning strikes and 3 heavy rain events. They killed 0 people and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $3.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 84 mph, on March 15, 2008. August has had the most flash floods, 7 of 19. Of the 241 South Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 193 have had fewer than Little River.

Flood insurance policyholders in Little River's ZIP code 29566 have filed 178 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1987, and were paid $2.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from October severe storms in 2015: 61 claims (34% of all) and $1.1 million, then Hurricane Matthew in 2016 with 28 and Hurricane Floyd in 1999 with 14. 75% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 110 South Carolina cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 82 have fewer than Little River.