Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Middletown, DE

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Newark Ag Farm, DE, 13 miles north of Middletown at 106 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 66°F; January is the coolest, at 43°F and 25°F. September is the wettest at 4.9 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.9 inches; the year adds up to 47.0 inches over 77 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (25.1 of 47.0 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 41 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (16); a normal September there has highs of 79°F and 4.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 33 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 97 nights a year. That 47.0 inches is more than at 5 of the 11 Delaware stations used on this site (45%). Townsend, 7 miles south, has its own station (Dover, DE): 47.7 inches a year, 0.7 more than here, and a July average high of 87°F against 89°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Chesapeake City, MD, 7 miles northwest, averaged 84°F in July and 38°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Chesapeake City tide gauge, 7 miles from Middletown, has risen 1.76 ± 0.12 inches per decade from 1972 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 17.6 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 111 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 184 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Middletown: 130 thunderstorm wind reports, 22 flash floods, 14 floods, 10 heavy rain events and 8 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $16.6 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 87 mph, on July 12, 2022. August has had the most flash floods, 8 of 22. Of the 37 Delaware cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 23 have had fewer than Middletown.

Flood insurance policyholders in Middletown's ZIP code 19709 have filed 78 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $574,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Sandy in 2012: 14 claims (18% of all) and $203,000, then Hurricane Isabel in 2003 with 12. 50% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 24 Delaware cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 9 have fewer than Middletown.