Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Milton, DE

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Georgetown Sussex Co Airport, DE, 7 miles southwest of Milton at 51 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 70°F; January is the coolest, at 45°F and 29°F. September is the wettest at 4.5 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.6 inches; the year adds up to 43.9 inches over 73 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 55% of the year's precipitation (24.0 of 43.9 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 59 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (22); a normal September there has highs of 80°F and 4.5 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 30 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 83 nights a year. That 43.9 inches is more than at 2 of the 11 Delaware stations used on this site (18%). Lewes, 7 miles east, has its own station (Lewes, DE): 47.5 inches a year, 3.6 more than here, and the same July average high, 88°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Lewes, DE, 9 miles east, averaged 74°F in August and 40°F in January over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Lewes tide gauge, 9 miles from Milton, has risen 1.49 ± 0.05 inches per decade from 1919 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 14.9 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 89 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 196 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Milton: 84 thunderstorm wind reports, 77 heavy rain events, 15 lightning strikes, 11 floods and 9 flash floods. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $1.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on July 1, 2021. August has had the most flash floods, 5 of 9. Of the 37 Delaware cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 8 have had fewer than Milton.

Flood insurance policyholders in Milton's ZIP code 19968 have filed 80 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1980, and were paid $992,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Sandy in 2012: 27 claims (34% of all) and $547,000, then Flooding in 1998 with 15. 55% 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, 10 have fewer than Milton.