Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Pascagoula, MS

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Pascagoula 3 NE, MS, 4 miles northeast of Pascagoula at 12 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 71°F; January is the coolest, at 60°F and 38°F. August is the wettest at 8.6 inches of precipitation on average and November the driest at 4.1 inches; the year adds up to 70.5 inches over 72 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 56% of the year's precipitation (39.3 of 70.5 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 72 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (31); a normal September there has highs of 86°F and 6.8 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 39 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 26 nights a year. That 70.5 inches is more than at 85 of the 87 Mississippi stations used on this site (98%). Gautier, 7 miles west, has its own station (Pascagoula Lott International Airport, MS): 61.8 inches a year, 8.7 less than here, and an August average high of 91°F against 89°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Pascagoula NOAA Lab, MS, 2 miles west, averaged 86°F in August and 56°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from June to September. Sea level at the Dauphin Island tide gauge, 29 miles from Pascagoula, has risen 1.72 ± 0.10 inches per decade from 1966 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 17.2 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 109 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 45 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Pascagoula: 31 thunderstorm wind reports, 13 flash floods and 1 lightning strike. They killed 1 person and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $1.6 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 75 mph, on April 14, 2014. August has had the most flash floods, 6 of 13. Of the 232 Mississippi cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 67 have had fewer than Pascagoula.

Flood insurance policyholders in Pascagoula's 2 ZIP codes have filed 3,374 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $222.4 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Katrina in 2005: 1,552 claims (46% of all) and $195.1 million, then Hurricane Georges in 1998 with 682 and Hurricane Isaac in 2012 with 222. 80% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 133 Mississippi cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 127 have fewer than Pascagoula.