Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Newport News, VA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Newport News International Airport, VA, 3 miles north of Newport News at 42 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 70°F; January is the coolest, at 49°F and 31°F. August is the wettest at 5.4 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.6 inches; the year adds up to 45.5 inches over 73 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 58% of the year's precipitation (26.4 of 45.5 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 82 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (33); a normal September there has highs of 81°F and 5.0 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 43 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 64 nights a year. That 45.5 inches is more than at 50 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (46%). Poquoson, 7 miles northeast, has its own station (Langley AFB, VA): 47.8 inches a year, 2.3 more than here, and a July average high of 87°F against 88°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Yorktown USCG Training Center, VA, 10 miles north, averaged 81°F in July and 43°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Yorktown tide gauge, 10 miles from Newport News, has risen 1.91 ± 0.06 inches per decade from 1950 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 19.1 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 116 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 423 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Newport News: 215 thunderstorm wind reports, 120 heavy rain events, 63 flash floods, 20 floods and 5 lightning strikes. They killed 0 people and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $7.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 79 mph, on August 5, 2003. August has had the most flash floods, 26 of 63. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 321 have had fewer than Newport News.

Flood insurance policyholders in Newport News's 7 ZIP codes have filed 1,236 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $25.0 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Floyd in 1999: 191 claims (15% of all) and $1.2 million, then Hurricane Isabel in 2003 with 147 and November 2009 Nor'easter in 2009 with 118. The year with the most claims was 2012, with 264. 55% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 183 Virginia cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 175 have fewer than Newport News.