Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Parksley, VA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Wallops Island Flight Fac, VA, 15 miles northeast of Parksley at 38 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 70°F; January is the coolest, at 46°F and 30°F. July is the wettest at 4.4 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 43.3 inches over 72 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (23.3 of 43.3 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 77 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (30); a normal September there has highs of 79°F and 4.3 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 19 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 69 nights a year. Snowfall averages 8.4 inches a year, most of it in January. That 43.3 inches is more than at 23 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (21%). Accomac, 5 miles south, has its own station (Painter 2 W, VA): 47.4 inches a year, 4.1 more than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 86°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Wachapreague, VA, 12 miles south, 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, 12 miles from Parksley, 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 80 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Parksley: 47 thunderstorm wind reports, 19 heavy rain events, 12 flash floods, 1 flood and 1 lightning strike. They killed 1 person and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $111,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 60 mph, on July 28, 2006. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 101 have had fewer than Parksley.

Flood insurance policyholders in Parksley's ZIP code 23421 have filed 72 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1984, and were paid $924,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Sandy in 2012: 16 claims (22% of all) and $486,000, then Hurricane Floyd in 1999 with 15. 72% 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, 118 have fewer than Parksley.