Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Rocky Point, NC

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Wilmington 7 N, NC, 9 miles south of Rocky Point at 40 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 71°F; January is the coolest, at 56°F and 33°F. September is the wettest at 9.7 inches of precipitation on average and April the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 63.5 inches over 82 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 62% of the year's precipitation (39.6 of 63.5 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 121 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (44); a normal September there has highs of 83°F and 9.7 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 58 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 56 nights a year. That 63.5 inches is more than at 128 of the 140 North Carolina stations used on this site (91%). Burgaw, 8 miles north, has its own station (Willard 4 SW, NC): 55.8 inches a year, 7.7 less than here, and the same July average high, 89°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Wilmington, NC, 16 miles south, averaged 84°F in July and 49°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from June to August. Sea level at the Wilmington tide gauge, 16 miles from Rocky Point, has risen 1.10 ± 0.07 inches per decade from 1935 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 11.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 64 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 Rocky Point: 60 thunderstorm wind reports, 24 flash floods, 12 floods, 4 heavy rain events and 3 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 7, and the NWS estimated $3.7 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 96 mph, on March 15, 2008. September has had the most flash floods, 9 of 24. Of the 472 North Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 328 have had fewer than Rocky Point.

Flood insurance policyholders in Rocky Point's ZIP code 28457 have filed 129 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1992, and were paid $8.1 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Florence in 2018: 72 claims (56% of all) and $6.8 million, then Hurricane Floyd in 1999 with 24 and Hurricane Fran in 1996 with 15. 93% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 263 North Carolina cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 189 have fewer than Rocky Point.