NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Mechanicsville, VA
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
47 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Mechanicsville, Virginia since 1851, 3 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Elsa in 2021. Since 1950, 76 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 5 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 3
- Tropical storms
- 44
- Tornadoes
- 76
- EF3 or stronger
- 5
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
8 deaths in all
What the records show for Mechanicsville
The strongest storm to pass near Mechanicsville was an unnamed storm in 1878, a Category 2 hurricane with 97 mph winds when its centre passed 12 miles away. The record near Mechanicsville begins with an unnamed storm in 1859; the most recent system was Elsa in 2021, a tropical storm 37 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1880s, with 6 systems. Of the 47 systems, 10 have come since 2000. Mechanicsville has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 33% of the 364 Virginia cities on this site. The strongest of the 76 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F4 on August 6, 1993; its path came within 22 miles, and it killed 4 people. Of the 76, 7 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 49 have come since 2000. September has had the most tornadoes, 21. The most recent tornado was on April 19, 2019. Mechanicsville has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 77% of the 364 Virginia cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 116 times since 1960, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). Mechanicsville has more hail reports within 10 miles than 86% of the 364 Virginia cities.
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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Mechanicsville
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | ElsaJul 9 | 37 mi | Tropical storm (53 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2020 | ZetaOct 29 | 26 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 3 |
| 2020 | IsaiasAug 4 | 26 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2019 | NestorOct 20 | 56 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2018 | MichaelOct 12 | 66 mi | Tropical storm (61 mph) | Category 5 |
| 2013 | AndreaJun 7 | 58 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2008 | HannaSep 6 | 26 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2006 | ErnestoSep 2 | 29 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2004 | GastonAug 30 | 49 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2003 | IsabelSep 19 | 46 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1996 | BerthaJul 13 | 43 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1963 | Unnamed 1963 stormJun 3 | 67 mi | Tropical storm (48 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1960 | BrendaJul 30 | 61 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1959 | CindyJul 10 | 72 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1955 | ConnieAug 13 | 62 mi | Tropical storm (68 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1954 | HazelOct 15 | 29 mi | Category 1 (87 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1952 | AbleSep 1 | 73 mi | Tropical storm (53 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1945 | Unnamed 1945 stormSep 18 | 14 mi | Tropical storm (43 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1944 | Unnamed 1944 stormOct 21 | 44 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1944 | Unnamed 1944 stormAug 2 | 8 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1943 | Unnamed 1943 stormOct 1 | 70 mi | Tropical storm (54 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1935 | Unnamed 1935 stormSep 6 | 72 mi | Tropical storm (66 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1933 | Unnamed 1933 stormAug 23 | 29 mi | Tropical storm (71 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1929 | Unnamed 1929 stormOct 2 | 4 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1928 | Unnamed 1928 stormSep 19 | 5 mi | Tropical storm (61 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1928 | Unnamed 1928 stormAug 12 | 6 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1924 | Unnamed 1924 stormSep 30 | 70 mi | Tropical storm (72 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1916 | Unnamed 1916 stormMay 17 | 63 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormAug 4 | 62 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1904 | Unnamed 1904 stormSep 15 | 37 mi | Tropical storm (67 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormOct 12 | 8 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormJun 16 | 29 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1899 | Unnamed 1899 stormOct 31 | 3 mi | Tropical storm (59 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormOct 13 | 49 mi | Category 1 (79 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 29 | 69 mi | Tropical storm (64 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1889 | Unnamed 1889 stormSep 24 | 50 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormSep 11 | 20 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1886 | Unnamed 1886 stormJul 2 | 35 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1885 | Unnamed 1885 stormOct 13 | 54 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1883 | Unnamed 1883 stormSep 12 | 53 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1882 | Unnamed 1882 stormSep 11 | 26 mi | Tropical storm (51 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1878 | Unnamed 1878 stormOct 23 | 12 mi | Category 2 (97 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1877 | Unnamed 1877 stormOct 4 | 30 mi | Tropical storm (60 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1876 | Unnamed 1876 stormSep 17 | 2 mi | Tropical storm (72 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1874 | Unnamed 1874 stormSep 29 | 45 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1872 | Unnamed 1872 stormOct 25 | 47 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1859 | Unnamed 1859 stormSep 17 | 32 mi | Tropical storm (60 mph) | Category 1 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Mechanicsville: 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 Mechanicsville
By decade
- 2010s20(1 EF3+)
- 2000s29
- 1990s9(3 EF3+)
- 1980s7(1 EF3+)
- 1970s3
- 1960s2
- 1950s6
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 1993 | F4 | 22 mi | 1 mi | 4 / 246 |
| Apr 1, 1998 | F3 | 20 mi | 5 mi | 2 / 0 |
| Oct 18, 1990 | F3 | 13 mi | 5 mi | 1 / 0 |
| Feb 24, 2016 | EF3 | 22 mi | 30.34 mi | 0 / 25 |
| May 8, 1984 | F3 | 23 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 15 |
| Sep 17, 2018 | EF2 | 15 mi | 7.5 mi | 1 / 1 |
| Apr 19, 2019 | EF2 | 25 mi | 3.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 1, 1998 | F2 | 19 mi | 4 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Apr 2, 1990 | F2 | 20 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 29, 1984 | F2 | 11 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 24, 1969 | F2 | 9 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jun 13, 1951 | F2 | 5 mi | 4.1 mi | 0 / 12 |
The strongest 12 of 76, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Mechanicsville
The Storm Prediction Center has 116 hail reports within 10 miles of Mechanicsville since 1960, made on 70 separate days. Of these, 78 were 1 inch across or larger, and 8 reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.75 inches (baseball size), fell on May 5, 2004. The most recent report is from June 30, 2024. May has the most reports, 34.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Mechanicsville
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Ashland Hanover Co Municipal Airport, VA, 7 miles northwest of Mechanicsville at 205 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 47°F and 28°F. August is the wettest at 4.9 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.9 inches; the year adds up to 45.8 inches over 73 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (24.1 of 45.8 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 47 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (16); a normal September there has highs of 81°F and 4.0 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 43 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 88 nights a year. That 45.8 inches is more than at 55 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (50%). Highland Springs, 6 miles south, has its own station (Richmond International Airport, VA): 45.5 inches a year, 0.3 less than here, and a July average high of 90°F against 89°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 47 | 28 | 3.5 | 6 |
| Feb | 51 | 30 | 2.9 | 6 |
| Mar | 59 | 36 | 3.9 | 6 |
| Apr | 70 | 45 | 3.4 | 7 |
| May | 77 | 55 | 4.3 | 8 |
| Jun | 85 | 63 | 4.1 | 7 |
| Jul | 89 | 68 | 4.0 | 7 |
| Aug | 87 | 66 | 4.9 | 6 |
| Sep | 81 | 59 | 4.0 | 5 |
| Oct | 70 | 48 | 3.7 | 5 |
| Nov | 60 | 38 | 3.4 | 5 |
| Dec | 51 | 31 | 3.7 | 6 |
| Year | 69 | 47 | 45.8 | 73 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Ashland Hanover Co Municipal Airport, VA (205 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Mechanicsville
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 508 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Mechanicsville: 298 thunderstorm wind reports, 120 flash floods, 72 heavy rain events, 12 floods and 6 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 5, and the NWS estimated $1.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 75 mph, on August 10, 2013. July has had the most flash floods, 36 of 120. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 344 have had fewer than Mechanicsville.
May 5, 2017: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Mechanicsville — 1 killed, $10,000 damage.
December 17, 2000: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Mechanicsville — 2 injured, $5,000 damage.
July 18, 2025: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Mechanicsville — 1 injured, $21,000 damage.
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 Mechanicsville's 2 ZIP codes have filed 22 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1985, and were paid $489,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 36% 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, 50 have fewer than Mechanicsville.
Hanover County, which includes Mechanicsville, has been named in 22 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 14 of them major disasters (by incident: 7 hurricanes, 4 severe storms, 4 snowstorms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storm and Snowstorm, on March 11, 2022. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Hanover County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for lightning; Relatively Low for hurricanes, tornadoes, hail, inland flooding, strong wind and heat waves; Very Low for coastal flooding. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $28.5 million a year, the 17th highest of 133 Virginia counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $15.4 million (54%), 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 Mechanicsville
- Highland Springs, VA6 mi
- Hanover, VA8 mi
- Sandston, VA8 mi
- Richmond, VA10 mi
- Glen Allen, VA11 mi
- Ashland, VA11 mi
- Quinton, VA14 mi
- Aylett, VA14 mi
- North Chesterfield, VA15 mi
- New Kent, VA16 mi
- King William, VA17 mi
- Chester, VA20 mi
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