NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Palmerton, 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
18 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Palmerton, Pennsylvania since 1851, 1 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 53 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 3 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 1
- Tropical storms
- 17
- Tornadoes
- 53
- EF3 or stronger
- 3
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
no recorded deaths
What the records show for Palmerton
The strongest storm to pass near Palmerton was an unnamed storm in 1878, a Category 1 hurricane with 83 mph winds when its centre passed 14 miles away. The record near Palmerton begins with an unnamed storm in 1863; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 66 miles away. Of the 18 systems, 3 have come since 2000. Of the 794 Pennsylvania cities on this site, 45% have more hurricanes within 75 miles than Palmerton. The highest rating among the 53 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 3 times; the most recent, on May 31, 1998, came within 25 miles. Of the 53, 4 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 16 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 18. The most recent tornado was on May 6, 2025. Of the 794 Pennsylvania cities, 58% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Palmerton. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 40 times since 1966, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). Of the 794 Pennsylvania cities, 61% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Palmerton.
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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Palmerton
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | IdaSep 2 | 66 mi | Tropical storm (41 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2020 | IsaiasAug 4 | 22 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2012 | SandyOct 30 | 70 mi | Tropical storm (66 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1996 | BerthaJul 13 | 71 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1979 | DavidSep 6 | 58 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1955 | DianeAug 19 | 39 mi | Tropical storm (41 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1952 | AbleSep 1 | 21 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1949 | Unnamed 1949 stormAug 29 | 36 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1934 | Unnamed 1934 stormJun 19 | 67 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1933 | Unnamed 1933 stormAug 24 | 67 mi | Tropical storm (48 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1929 | Unnamed 1929 stormOct 3 | 12 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormAug 4 | 34 mi | Tropical storm (54 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1903 | Unnamed 1903 stormSep 16 | 12 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1899 | Unnamed 1899 stormNov 1 | 19 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 29 | 14 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormAug 22 | 2 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1878 | Unnamed 1878 stormOct 23 | 14 mi | Category 1 (83 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1863 | Unnamed 1863 stormSep 19 | 66 mi | Tropical storm (51 mph) | Tropical storm |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Palmerton: 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 Palmerton
By decade
- 2020s5
- 2010s8
- 2000s3
- 1990s7(1 EF3+)
- 1980s14(1 EF3+)
- 1970s12(1 EF3+)
- 1960s2
- 1950s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 31, 1998 | F3 | 25 mi | 8.3 mi | 0 / 7 |
| Jul 26, 1981 | F3 | 3 mi | 3.3 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Mar 21, 1976 | F3 | 24 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 29, 2009 | EF2 | 19 mi | 4.58 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Nov 8, 1996 | F2 | 3 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jul 15, 1992 | F2 | 22 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Jul 5, 1984 | F2 | 24 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 5, 1984 | F2 | 21 mi | 8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 5, 1984 | F2 | 25 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 5, 1984 | F2 | 24 mi | 7 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Jul 20, 1981 | F2 | 23 mi | 4.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 29, 1981 | F2 | in town | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 53, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Palmerton
The Storm Prediction Center has 40 hail reports within 10 miles of Palmerton since 1966, made on 31 separate days. Of these, 20 were 1 inch across or larger, and 2 reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.75 inches (baseball size), fell on August 17, 2007. The most recent report is from April 30, 2024. July has the most reports, 12.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Palmerton
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Allentown International Airport, PA, 14 miles southeast of Palmerton at 390 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 65°F; January is the coolest, at 38°F and 22°F. July is the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 47.4 inches over 82 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 56% of the year's precipitation (26.4 of 47.4 inches); the other six months are drier. August has brought the most of the 18 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (7); a normal August there has highs of 84°F and 4.6 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 18 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 118 nights a year. Snowfall averages 33.1 inches a year, most of it in February. That 47.4 inches is more than at 108 of the 148 Pennsylvania stations used on this site (73%). Kunkletown, 8 miles northeast, has its own station (E Stroudsburg, PA): 53.4 inches a year, 6.0 more than here, and a July average high of 84°F against 86°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 38 | 22 | 3.3 | 6 | 9.8 |
| Feb | 42 | 23 | 2.8 | 6 | 10.8 |
| Mar | 51 | 31 | 3.6 | 7 | 6.3 |
| Apr | 63 | 40 | 3.7 | 7 | 0.5 |
| May | 74 | 51 | 3.7 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 82 | 60 | 4.4 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 86 | 65 | 5.3 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 84 | 63 | 4.6 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 77 | 55 | 4.8 | 7 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 66 | 44 | 4.1 | 6 | 0.2 |
| Nov | 54 | 34 | 3.2 | 6 | 0.9 |
| Dec | 43 | 27 | 3.9 | 7 | 4.6 |
| Year | 63 | 43 | 47.4 | 82 | 33.1 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Allentown International Airport, PA (390 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Palmerton
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 245 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Palmerton: 175 thunderstorm wind reports, 27 flash floods, 18 floods, 15 lightning strikes and 10 heavy rain events. They killed 1 person and injured 9, and the NWS estimated $28.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 85 mph, on August 16, 1997. August has had the most flash floods, 13 of 27. Of the 788 Pennsylvania cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 401 have had fewer than Palmerton.
August 13, 2016: lightning strike 3 miles from the centre of Palmerton — 1 killed, 2 injured.
NWS: “Lightning struck in the Beltzville Lake. The lightning strike spread through the water and injured several people and killing a man.”
August 16, 1997: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Palmerton — 3 injured.
July 19, 2011: lightning strike 10 miles from the centre of Palmerton — 2 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 Palmerton's ZIP code 18071 have filed 50 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1983, and were paid $230,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1996: 31 claims (62% of all) and $172,000. 78% 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, 276 have fewer than Palmerton.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1996 | 31 | $172,000 |
Carbon County, which includes Palmerton, has been named in 18 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 11 of them major disasters (by incident: 4 floods, 4 hurricanes, 4 severe storms, 3 snowstorms). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on March 30, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Carbon County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for lightning; Relatively Moderate for strong wind and heat waves; Relatively Low for hurricanes, tornadoes and inland flooding; Very Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $21.6 million a year, the 43rd highest of 67 Pennsylvania counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $12.2 million (57%), 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 Palmerton
- Walnutport, PA4 mi
- Danielsville, PA5 mi
- Slatington, PA6 mi
- Lehighton, PA6 mi
- Kunkletown, PA8 mi
- Jim Thorpe, PA9 mi
- Germansville, PA10 mi
- Schnecksville, PA10 mi
- Northampton, PA10 mi
- Bath, PA11 mi
- Coplay, PA11 mi
- Brodheadsville, PA12 mi
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