Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Onancock, VA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Painter 2 W, VA, 9 miles south of Onancock at 30 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 69°F; January is the coolest, at 48°F and 30°F. July is the wettest at 5.0 inches of precipitation on average and February and November the driest at 3.1 inches; the year adds up to 47.4 inches over 76 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (25.8 of 47.4 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 78 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (29); a normal September there has highs of 80°F and 4.5 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 26 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 61 nights a year. Snowfall averages 6.6 inches a year, most of it in January. That 47.4 inches is more than at 78 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (72%). Parksley, 8 miles northeast, has its own station (Wallops Island Flight Fac, VA): 43.3 inches a year, 4.1 less than here, and a July average high of 86°F against 88°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Wachapreague, VA, 8 miles southeast, averaged 83°F in July and 42°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Wachapreague tide gauge, 8 miles from Onancock, has risen 2.24 ± 0.12 inches per decade from 1978 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 22.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 127 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 86 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Onancock: 51 thunderstorm wind reports, 21 heavy rain events, 11 flash floods, 2 floods and 1 lightning strike. They killed 1 person and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $134,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 63 mph, on August 19, 2024. August has had the most flash floods, 7 of 11. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 81 have had fewer than Onancock.

Flood insurance policyholders in Onancock's ZIP code 23417 have filed 279 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $3.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Floyd in 1999: 120 claims (43% of all) and $1.3 million, then Hurricane Sandy in 2012 with 64 and Hurricane Gloria in 1985 with 23. 89% 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, 160 have fewer than Onancock.