Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Mathews, VA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is N, VA, 7 miles west of Mathews at 4 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 70°F; January is the coolest, at 47°F and 29°F. July is the wettest at 5.8 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.9 inches; the year adds up to 51.9 inches over 80 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 56% of the year's precipitation (28.9 of 51.9 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 78°F and 5.1 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 16 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 77 nights a year. Snowfall averages 8.5 inches a year, most of it in January. That 51.9 inches is more than at 102 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (94%). Seaford, 18 miles south, has its own station (Newport News International Airport, VA): 45.5 inches a year, 6.4 less than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 85°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Yorktown USCG Training Center, VA, 17 miles southwest, averaged 81°F in July and 43°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Windmill Point tide gauge, 12 miles from Mathews, has risen 2.55 ± 0.20 inches per decade from 1982 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 25.5 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 138 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 113 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Mathews: 65 thunderstorm wind reports, 39 heavy rain events, 6 flash floods and 3 floods. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $257,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on March 5, 2025. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 25 have had fewer than Mathews.

Flood insurance policyholders in Mathews's 2 ZIP codes have filed 290 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $5.2 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Isabel in 2003: 162 claims (56% of all) and $3.6 million, then Tropical Storm Ernesto in 2006 with 31 and November 2009 Nor'easter in 2009 with 26. 87% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 183 Virginia cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 162 have fewer than Mathews.