Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Picayune, MS

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Picayune, MS, 2 miles west of Picayune at 64 feet. July and August are the warmest, with an average high of 92°F and low of 71°F; January is the coolest, at 62°F and 38°F. June is the wettest at 6.6 inches of precipitation on average and November the driest at 4.3 inches; the year adds up to 66.8 inches over 81 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 50% of the year's precipitation (33.7 of 66.8 inches). September has brought the most of the 73 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (33); a normal September there has highs of 88°F and 4.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 71 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 31 nights a year. That 66.8 inches is more than at 81 of the 87 Mississippi stations used on this site (93%). Pearl River, LA, 11 miles southwest, has its own station (Slidell Airport, LA): 61.9 inches a year, 4.9 less than here, and a July average high of 91°F against 92°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Bay Waveland Yacht Club, MS, 25 miles southeast, averaged 87°F in July and August and 54°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from June to September. Sea level at the Bay Waveland tide gauge, 25 miles from Picayune, has risen 1.81 ± 0.13 inches per decade from 1978 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 18.1 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 112 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 85 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Picayune: 57 thunderstorm wind reports, 27 flash floods and 1 flood. They killed 0 people and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $7.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 70 mph, on March 9, 2011. June has had the most flash floods, 13 of 27. Of the 232 Mississippi cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 168 have had fewer than Picayune.

Flood insurance policyholders in Picayune's ZIP code 39466 have filed 642 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $11.6 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Katrina in 2005: 104 claims (16% of all) and $2.2 million, then Hurricane Isaac in 2012 with 100 and Flooding in 1983 with 48. 52% 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, 113 have fewer than Picayune.