Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Nags Head, NC

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Manteo Airport, NC, 5 miles west of Nags Head at 13 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 73°F; January is the coolest, at 51°F and 36°F. August is the wettest at 5.6 inches of precipitation on average and April and November the driest at 2.9 inches; the year adds up to 46.5 inches over 70 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 56% of the year's precipitation (26.0 of 46.5 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 124 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (45); a normal September there has highs of 79°F and 4.5 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 21 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 28 nights a year. Snowfall averages 1.1 inches a year, most of it in January. That 46.5 inches is more than at 22 of the 140 North Carolina stations used on this site (16%). Grandy, 26 miles northwest, has its own station (Elizabeth City Cgas, NC): 46.6 inches a year, 0.1 more than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 86°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Oregon Inlet Marina, NC, 10 miles south, averaged 84°F in July and 48°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Oregon Inlet Marina tide gauge, 10 miles from Nags Head, has risen 2.17 ± 0.18 inches per decade from 1977 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 21.7 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 125 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 48 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Nags Head: 32 thunderstorm wind reports, 12 flash floods, 3 floods and 1 heavy rain event. They killed 0 people and injured 8, and the NWS estimated $230,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 104 mph, on April 11, 1999. July has had the most flash floods, 8 of 12. Of the 472 North Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 166 have had fewer than Nags Head.

Flood insurance policyholders in Nags Head's ZIP code 27959 have filed 3,109 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $32.7 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Isabel in 2003: 578 claims (19% of all) and $7.1 million, then Hurricane Dennis in 1999 with 298 and Hurricane Irene in 2011 with 290. 61% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 263 North Carolina cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 255 have fewer than Nags Head.