Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Moss Point, MS

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Pascagoula Lott International Airport, MS, 2 miles southwest of Moss Point at 18 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 73°F; January is the coolest, at 63°F and 41°F. August is the wettest at 7.9 inches of precipitation on average and October the driest at 3.7 inches; the year adds up to 61.8 inches over 75 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 55% of the year's precipitation (33.8 of 61.8 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 69 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (28); a normal September there has highs of 88°F and 4.8 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 80 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 27 nights a year. That 61.8 inches is more than at 67 of the 87 Mississippi stations used on this site (77%). Pascagoula, 8 miles south, has its own station (Pascagoula 3 NE, MS): 70.5 inches a year, 8.7 more than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 91°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Pascagoula NOAA Lab, MS, 8 miles south, averaged 86°F in August and 56°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from June to September. Sea level at the Dauphin Island tide gauge, 30 miles from Moss Point, has risen 1.72 ± 0.10 inches per decade from 1966 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 17.2 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 109 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 65 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Moss Point: 45 thunderstorm wind reports, 16 flash floods, 3 heavy rain events and 1 lightning strike. They killed 1 person and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $2.0 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on March 9, 2011. Of the 232 Mississippi cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 94 have had fewer than Moss Point.

Flood insurance policyholders in Moss Point's 2 ZIP codes have filed 2,272 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $66.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Katrina in 2005: 558 claims (25% of all) and $35.6 million, then Hurricane Isaac in 2012 with 471 and Hurricane Georges in 1998 with 331. 72% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 133 Mississippi cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 124 have fewer than Moss Point.