Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Odessa, FL

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Tarpon Spgs Sewage Plt, FL, 10 miles west of Odessa at 6 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 76°F; January is the coolest, at 69°F and 51°F. August is the wettest at 9.7 inches of precipitation on average and November the driest at 1.9 inches; the year adds up to 54.4 inches over 72 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 70% of the year's precipitation (38.0 of 54.4 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 77 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (28); a normal September there has highs of 89°F and 7.0 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 95 days a year, almost all from April to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 2 nights a year. That 54.4 inches is more than at 65 of the 125 Florida stations used on this site (52%). Lutz, 8 miles east, has its own station (Tampa International Airport, FL): 49.6 inches a year, 4.8 less than here, and the same August average high, 91°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station East Bay, FL, 18 miles southeast, averaged 89°F in July and 64°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from May to October. Sea level at the East Bay tide gauge, 18 miles from Odessa, has risen 2.17 ± 0.16 inches per decade from 1976 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 119 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Odessa: 80 thunderstorm wind reports, 19 lightning strikes, 14 heavy rain events, 5 floods and 1 flash flood. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $93.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 68 mph, on April 14, 2009.

Flood insurance policyholders in Odessa's ZIP code 33556 have filed 156 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $2.7 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Milton in 2024: 28 claims (18% of all) and $896,000, then Flooding in 1988 with 10 and Hurricane Frances in 2004 with 10. 53% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 340 Florida cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 134 have fewer than Odessa.