Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Palmetto, FL

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Bradenton 5 ESE, FL, 8 miles southeast of Palmetto at 20 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 92°F and low of 76°F; January is the coolest, at 72°F and 52°F. August is the wettest at 10.1 inches of precipitation on average and November the driest at 1.8 inches; the year adds up to 56.3 inches over 74 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 71% of the year's precipitation (40.1 of 56.3 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 75 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (25); a normal September there has highs of 90°F and 7.4 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 116 days a year, almost all from April to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 1 nights a year. That 56.3 inches is more than at 81 of the 125 Florida stations used on this site (65%). Parrish, 10 miles east, has its own station (Parrish, FL): 54.4 inches a year, 1.9 less than here, and an August average high of 90°F against 92°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Port Manatee, FL, 6 miles north, averaged 89°F in July and 62°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from May to September. Sea level at the Port Manatee tide gauge, 6 miles from Palmetto, has risen 2.15 ± 0.13 inches per decade from 1976 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 21.5 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 123 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 83 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Palmetto: 60 thunderstorm wind reports, 10 heavy rain events, 6 floods, 6 lightning strikes and 1 flash flood. They killed 0 people and injured 6, and the NWS estimated $1.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 72 mph, on December 21, 2021.

Flood insurance policyholders in Palmetto's ZIP code 34221 have filed 933 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $42.4 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Helene in 2024: 490 claims (53% of all) and $39.0 million, then Hurricane Milton in 2024 with 60 and Blizzard of 1993 in 1993 with 42. 84% 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, 240 have fewer than Palmetto.