Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Merritt Island, FL

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Titusville 7 E, FL, 17 miles north of Merritt Island at 3 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 74°F; January is the coolest, at 70°F and 50°F. September is the wettest at 7.2 inches of precipitation on average and April the driest at 2.0 inches; the year adds up to 48.7 inches over 70 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 69% of the year's precipitation (33.6 of 48.7 inches); the other six months are drier. October has brought the most of the 85 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (26); a normal October there has highs of 82°F and 5.2 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 42 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 2 nights a year. That 48.7 inches is more than at 13 of the 125 Florida stations used on this site (10%). Rockledge, 5 miles southwest, has its own station (Melbourne WFO, FL): 55.3 inches a year, 6.6 more than here, and an August average high of 91°F against 89°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Trident Pier, Port Canaveral, FL, 6 miles northeast, averaged 87°F in September and 69°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from May to October. Sea level at the Port Canaveral tide gauge, 6 miles from Merritt Island, has risen 2.52 ± 0.26 inches per decade from 1994 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 25.2 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 137 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 126 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Merritt Island: 110 thunderstorm wind reports, 5 flash floods, 5 heavy rain events, 5 lightning strikes and 1 flood. They killed 2 people and injured 12, and the NWS estimated $7.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 92 mph, on October 21, 2002. October has had the most flash floods, 5 of 5. Of the 277 Florida cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 143 have had fewer than Merritt Island.

Flood insurance policyholders in Merritt Island's 2 ZIP codes have filed 795 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $10.7 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Tropical Storm Fay in 2008: 162 claims (20% of all) and $1.7 million, then Hurricane Irma in 2017 with 136 and Hurricane Irene in 1999 with 53. 73% 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, 225 have fewer than Merritt Island.