Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Panama City, FL

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Panama City 5N, FL, 4 miles northwest of Panama City at 5 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 75°F; January is the coolest, at 64°F and 43°F. July and August are the wettest at 7.4 inches of precipitation on average and May the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 61.3 inches over 77 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 57% of the year's precipitation (34.8 of 61.3 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 74 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (25); a normal September there has highs of 89°F and 7.0 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 67 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 16 nights a year. That 61.3 inches is more than at 98 of the 125 Florida stations used on this site (78%). Fountain, 23 miles northeast, has its own station (Chipley, FL): 61.0 inches a year, 0.3 less than here, and a July average high of 93°F against 91°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Panama City, FL, 5 miles southwest, averaged 87°F in August and 59°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from June to September. Sea level at the Panama City tide gauge, 5 miles from Panama City, has risen 1.21 ± 0.10 inches per decade from 1973 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 12.1 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 71 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 270 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Panama City: 139 thunderstorm wind reports, 101 flash floods, 14 floods, 10 lightning strikes and 6 heavy rain events. They killed 4 people and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $9.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on March 16, 2000. October has had the most flash floods, 26 of 101. Of the 277 Florida cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 275 have had fewer than Panama City.

Flood insurance policyholders in Panama City's 4 ZIP codes have filed 2,722 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $59.9 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Michael in 2018: 904 claims (33% of all) and $19.6 million, then Hurricane Opal in 1995 with 623 and Hurricane Dennis in 2005 with 149. 74% 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, 298 have fewer than Panama City.