Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Rock Hall, MD

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Chestertown, MD, 11 miles northeast of Rock Hall at 40 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 69°F; January is the coolest, at 41°F and 27°F. September is the wettest at 4.9 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.9 inches; the year adds up to 46.1 inches over 77 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 52% of the year's precipitation (24.2 of 46.1 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 42 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (15); a normal September there has highs of 78°F and 4.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 37 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 97 nights a year. Snowfall averages 16.7 inches a year, most of it in February. That 46.1 inches is more than at 21 of the 41 Maryland stations used on this site (51%). Grasonville, 13 miles south, has its own station (Royal Oak 2 SSW, MD): 47.7 inches a year, 1.6 more than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 87°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Tolchester Beach, MD, 5 miles north, averaged 83°F in July and 39°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Tolchester Beach tide gauge, 5 miles from Rock Hall, has risen 1.70 ± 0.17 inches per decade from 1971 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 17.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 107 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 103 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Rock Hall: 84 thunderstorm wind reports, 8 heavy rain events, 7 flash floods, 3 floods and 1 lightning strike. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $1.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 75 mph, on October 14, 2003. August has had the most flash floods, 5 of 7. Of the 239 Maryland cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 6 have had fewer than Rock Hall.

Flood insurance policyholders in Rock Hall's ZIP code 21661 have filed 220 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $5.1 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Isabel in 2003: 173 claims (79% of all) and $4.4 million. 84% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 150 Maryland cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 134 have fewer than Rock Hall.