Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Norco, LA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is New Orleans International Airport, LA, 10 miles east of Norco at 4 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 77°F; January is the coolest, at 63°F and 46°F. June is the wettest at 7.6 inches of precipitation on average and October the driest at 3.7 inches; the year adds up to 63.3 inches over 77 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (34.0 of 63.3 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 74 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (28); a normal September there has highs of 88°F and 5.1 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 85 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 5 nights a year. That 63.3 inches is more than at 56 of the 81 Louisiana stations used on this site (69%). La Place, 6 miles northwest, has its own station (Reserve, LA): 67.2 inches a year, 3.9 more than here, and a July average high of 92°F against 91°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station West Bank 1, Bayou Gauche, LA, 15 miles south, averaged 88°F in July and August and 56°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from May to September. Sea level at the New Canal tide gauge, 18 miles from Norco, has risen 2.36 ± 0.19 inches per decade from 1982 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 23.6 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 131 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 175 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Norco: 108 thunderstorm wind reports, 63 flash floods, 3 heavy rain events and 1 lightning strike. They killed 0 people and injured 4, and the NWS estimated $94.7 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 84 mph, on May 16, 2024. June has had the most flash floods, 12 of 63. Of the 239 Louisiana cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 211 have had fewer than Norco.

Flood insurance policyholders in Norco's ZIP code 70079 have filed 888 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $27.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Ida in 2021: 193 claims (22% of all) and $11.3 million, then Flooding in 1995 with 144 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 with 77. The year with the most claims was 2004, with 220. 59% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 219 Louisiana cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 159 have fewer than Norco.