Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Patillas, PR

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Guayama 2E, PR RQ, 6 miles southwest of Patillas at 72 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 90°F and low of 77°F; February is the coolest, at 86°F and 72°F. September is the wettest at 7.3 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 1.7 inches; the year adds up to 54.5 inches over 95 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 69% of the year's precipitation (37.6 of 54.5 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 60 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (26); a normal September there has highs of 90°F and 7.3 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 99 days a year, almost all from March to December. A night below freezing comes less than once a year on average. That 54.5 inches is more than at 6 of the 21 Puerto Rico stations used on this site (29%). Yabucoa, 8 miles northeast, has its own station (Juncos 1 SE, PR RQ): 67.5 inches a year, 13.0 more than here, and an August average high of 89°F against 90°F.

Sea level at the San Juan tide gauge, 31 miles from Patillas, has risen 0.85 ± 0.06 inches per decade from 1962 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 8.5 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 45 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 153 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Patillas: 95 flash floods, 35 floods, 16 heavy rain events and 7 thunderstorm wind reports. They killed 5 people and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $773.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 58 mph, on July 30, 2020. August has had the most flash floods, 23 of 95. Of the 86 Puerto Rico cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 50 have had fewer than Patillas.

Flood insurance policyholders in Patillas's ZIP code 00723 have filed 124 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $578,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricanes David & Frederic in 1979: 21 claims (17% of all) and $33,000, then Hurricane Isabel in 1985 with 12 and Tropical/Subtropical System 93L in 2008 with 11. 58% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 72 Puerto Rico cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 40 have fewer than Patillas.