Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Lutz, FL

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Tampa International Airport, FL, 12 miles south of Lutz at 19 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 77°F; January is the coolest, at 71°F and 53°F. August is the wettest at 9.0 inches of precipitation on average and November the driest at 1.4 inches; the year adds up to 49.6 inches over 69 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 69% of the year's precipitation (34.0 of 49.6 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 70 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (26); a normal September there has highs of 90°F and 6.1 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 94 days a year, almost all from April to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 1 nights a year. That 49.6 inches is more than at 15 of the 125 Florida stations used on this site (12%). Odessa, 8 miles west, has its own station (Tarpon Spgs Sewage Plt, FL): 54.4 inches a year, 4.8 more than here, and the same August average high, 91°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station East Bay, FL, 14 miles south, averaged 89°F in July and 64°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from May to October. Sea level at the East Bay tide gauge, 14 miles from Lutz, has risen 2.17 ± 0.16 inches per decade from 1976 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 21.7 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 125 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 156 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Lutz: 123 thunderstorm wind reports, 17 lightning strikes, 11 heavy rain events, 4 floods and 1 flash flood. They killed 2 people and injured 3, and the NWS estimated $6.8 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 69 mph, on June 28, 2004.

Flood insurance policyholders in Lutz's 4 ZIP codes have filed 387 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $4.1 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Milton in 2024: 52 claims (13% of all) and $2.1 million, then Hurricane Elena in 1985 with 50 and The 'No-Name Storm' in 1982 with 41. 63% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 340 Florida cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 190 have fewer than Lutz.