Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Milton, FL

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Whiting Field NAS, FL, 5 miles north of Milton at 199 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 71°F; January is the coolest, at 62°F and 39°F. March is the wettest at 7.4 inches of precipitation on average and May and October the driest at 3.6 inches; the year adds up to 63.3 inches over 72 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 50% of the year's precipitation (31.9 of 63.3 inches). September has brought the most of the 67 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (24); a normal September there has highs of 88°F and 5.4 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 81 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 20 nights a year. That 63.3 inches is more than at 106 of the 125 Florida stations used on this site (85%). Pace, 10 miles west, has its own station (Pensacola 7 NNE, FL): 67.9 inches a year, 4.6 more than here, and the same July average high, 91°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Pensacola, FL, 21 miles southwest, averaged 88°F in August and 58°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from June to September. Sea level at the Pensacola tide gauge, 21 miles from Milton, has risen 1.07 ± 0.05 inches per decade from 1923 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 10.7 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 60 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 146 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Milton: 76 thunderstorm wind reports, 44 lightning strikes, 23 flash floods and 3 heavy rain events. They killed 1 person and injured 12, and the NWS estimated $2.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 82 mph, on May 13, 2024. June has had the most flash floods, 10 of 23. Of the 277 Florida cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 235 have had fewer than Milton.

Flood insurance policyholders in Milton's 2 ZIP codes have filed 2,200 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $106.7 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Ivan in 2004: 888 claims (40% of all) and $82.1 million, then Hurricane Sally in 2020 with 459 and Hurricane Opal in 1995 with 226. 87% 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, 285 have fewer than Milton.