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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Newtown Square, PA

Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.

Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated

35 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Newtown Square, Pennsylvania since 1851, 2 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 98 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 6 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
2

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
33

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
98

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
6

7 deaths in all

What the records show for Newtown Square

The strongest storm to pass near Newtown Square was an unnamed storm in 1878, a Category 1 hurricane with 86 mph winds when its centre passed 50 miles away. The record near Newtown Square begins with an unnamed storm in 1861; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 9 miles away. The 1870s and the 2020s were the busiest decades, with 4 systems each. Of the 35 systems, 8 have come since 2000. Newtown Square has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 54% of the 794 Pennsylvania cities on this site. The highest rating among the 98 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3 or EF3, reached 6 times; the most recent, on September 1, 2021, came within 20 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on July 27, 1994, killed 3 people. Of the 98, 2 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 27 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 23. The most recent tornado was on August 8, 2024. Newtown Square has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 99% of the 794 Pennsylvania cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 72 times since 1957, with stones up to 2 inches (hen egg size). Newtown Square has more hail reports within 10 miles than 68% of the 794 Pennsylvania cities.

Compare Newtown Square's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Newtown Square

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2021IdaSep 29 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 4
2021ElsaJul 973 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
2020IsaiasAug 49 miTropical storm (64 mph)Category 1
2020FayJul 1057 miTropical storm (45 mph)Tropical storm
2012SandyOct 3018 miTropical storm (70 mph)Category 3
2011IreneAug 2862 miTropical storm (67 mph)Category 3
2008HannaSep 638 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
2006ErnestoSep 368 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1999FloydSep 1669 miTropical storm (62 mph)Category 4
1996BerthaJul 1333 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1992DanielleSep 2637 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1971DoriaAug 2847 miTropical storm (64 mph)Tropical storm
1961Unnamed 1961 stormSep 1570 miTropical storm (60 mph)Tropical storm
1960BrendaJul 3053 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1955DianeAug 1919 miTropical storm (41 mph)Category 2
1952AbleSep 130 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1944Unnamed 1944 stormAug 371 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1934Unnamed 1934 stormJun 1912 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1929Unnamed 1929 stormOct 342 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 4
1924Unnamed 1924 stormSep 3049 miTropical storm (70 mph)Category 1
1915Unnamed 1915 stormAug 418 miTropical storm (53 mph)Category 1
1904Unnamed 1904 stormSep 1561 miCategory 1 (76 mph)Category 1
1903Unnamed 1903 stormSep 1626 miTropical storm (67 mph)Category 2
1899Unnamed 1899 stormNov 121 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2933 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 1150 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1888Unnamed 1888 stormAug 2260 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 3
1882Unnamed 1882 stormSep 2463 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1878Unnamed 1878 stormOct 2350 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 2
1877Unnamed 1877 stormOct 554 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1874Unnamed 1874 stormSep 2940 miTropical storm (62 mph)Category 1
1872Unnamed 1872 stormOct 2638 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1866Unnamed 1866 stormOct 3064 miTropical storm (63 mph)Tropical storm
1863Unnamed 1863 stormSep 1934 miTropical storm (53 mph)Tropical storm
1861Unnamed 1861 stormSep 2851 miTropical storm (67 mph)Category 1

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Newtown Square: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.

Tornadoes within 25 miles of Newtown Square

By decade

  • 2020s14(2 EF3+)
  • 2010s8
  • 2000s5
  • 1990s27(2 EF3+)
  • 1980s18
  • 1970s9
  • 1960s10(1 EF3+)
  • 1950s7(1 EF3+)
Strongest tornadoes near Newtown Square, Pennsylvania
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Jul 27, 1994F318 mi2 mi3 / 25
Mar 22, 1955F35 mi9.6 mi1 / 0
Sep 1, 2021EF320 mi12.37 mi0 / 2
Jul 29, 2021EF324 mi3.4 mi0 / 0
Jul 27, 1994F322 mi4 mi0 / 11
Apr 28, 1961F323 mi0.3 mi0 / 0
Sep 1, 2021EF213 mi8.28 mi1 / 2
Sep 5, 1979F222 mi4.1 mi1 / 4
Aug 4, 2020EF224 mi20.77 mi0 / 18
Oct 31, 2019EF27 mi0.47 mi0 / 2
Sep 28, 2004F220 mi5 mi0 / 0
May 31, 1998F222 mi5.6 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 98, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Newtown Square

The Storm Prediction Center has 72 hail reports within 10 miles of Newtown Square since 1957, made on 44 separate days. Of these, 36 were 1 inch across or larger, and one reached 2 inches. The largest, 2 inches (hen egg size), fell on August 3, 1967. The most recent report is from May 3, 2025. May has the most reports, 23.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.

Weather by month in Newtown Square

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Norristown, PA, 10 miles northeast of Newtown Square at 62 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 67°F; January is the coolest, at 42°F and 23°F. August is the wettest at 5.0 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.0 inches; the year adds up to 50.7 inches over 86 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (26.7 of 50.7 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 35 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (15); a normal September there has highs of 80°F and 4.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 39 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 107 nights a year. Snowfall averages 25.3 inches a year, most of it in February. That 50.7 inches is more than at 133 of the 148 Pennsylvania stations used on this site (90%). Berwyn, 4 miles northwest, has its own station (Phoenixville 1 E, PA): 45.3 inches a year, 5.4 less than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 89°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Marcus Hook, PA, 12 miles south, averaged 82°F in July and 39°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Philadelphia tide gauge, 15 miles from Newtown Square, has risen 1.24 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1900 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 12.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 73 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Norristown, PA
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Snow inWater °F
Jan42233.776.839
Feb44253.0610.939
Mar52324.473.046
Apr65423.980.255
May75524.380.064
Jun84624.280.074
Jul89674.780.082
Aug87655.070.081
Sep80584.960.075
Oct68454.370.166
Nov57353.670.155
Dec46284.784.243
Year664450.78625.360

Averages for 1991–2020 at Norristown, PA (62 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Marcus Hook, PA, from NOAA Tides & Currents. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.

Pennsylvania weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Newtown Square

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 763 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Newtown Square: 500 thunderstorm wind reports, 188 flash floods, 44 floods, 23 lightning strikes and 8 heavy rain events. They killed 7 people and injured 23, and the NWS estimated $57.6 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 105 mph, on April 4, 2025. August has had the most flash floods, 75 of 188. Of the 788 Pennsylvania cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 743 have had fewer than Newtown Square.

  • September 1, 2021: flash flood 7 miles from the centre of Newtown Square — 2 killed, $21.0 million damage.

  • October 14, 2003: thunderstorm wind 6 miles from the centre of Newtown Square — 1 killed, 1 injured.

  • July 28, 2013: flash flood 10 miles from the centre of Newtown Square — 1 killed, 1 injured.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.

Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings

Flood insurance policyholders in Newtown Square's ZIP code 19073 have filed 36 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $417,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The year with the most claims was 2010, with 13. 25% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 553 Pennsylvania cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 213 have fewer than Newtown Square.

Delaware County, which includes Newtown Square, has been named in 24 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 16 of them major disasters (by incident: 7 hurricanes, 6 floods, 4 severe storms, 3 snowstorms). The latest major disaster declaration was Remnants of Hurricane Ida, on September 10, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Delaware County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for tornadoes, inland flooding, strong wind, lightning and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes and coastal flooding; Very Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $134.9 million a year, the 7th highest of 67 Pennsylvania counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $73.9 million (55%), is from inland flooding.

Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.

Cities near Newtown Square