Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Saint Bernard, LA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is New Orleans Alvin Callender Fl, LA, 12 miles west of Saint Bernard at 5 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 90°F and low of 73°F; January is the coolest, at 62°F and 43°F. July is the wettest at 8.1 inches of precipitation on average and October the driest at 3.6 inches; the year adds up to 64.1 inches over 82 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 55% of the year's precipitation (35.4 of 64.1 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 83 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (35); a normal September there has highs of 87°F and 6.8 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 64 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 11 nights a year. That 64.1 inches is more than at 63 of the 81 Louisiana stations used on this site (78%). Violet, 5 miles northwest, has its own station (Terrytown 3S, LA): 66.0 inches a year, 1.9 more than here, and an August average high of 92°F against 90°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Shell Beach, LA, 9 miles east, averaged 86°F in August and 53°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from June to September. Sea level at the New Canal tide gauge, 21 miles from Saint Bernard, has risen 2.36 ± 0.19 inches per decade from 1982 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 23.6 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 131 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 39 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Saint Bernard: 29 thunderstorm wind reports, 7 flash floods, 2 heavy rain events and 1 lightning strike. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $301,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on March 29, 2011. March has had the most flash floods, 2 of 7. Of the 239 Louisiana cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 34 have had fewer than Saint Bernard.

Flood insurance policyholders in Saint Bernard's ZIP code 70085 have filed 2,367 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $149.7 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Katrina in 2005: 1,100 claims (46% of all) and $137.4 million, then Hurricane Juan in 1985 with 191 and Hurricane Georges in 1998 with 172. 88% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 219 Louisiana cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 192 have fewer than Saint Bernard.