Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit San Benito, TX

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Harlingen, TX, 7 miles north of San Benito at 38 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 98°F and low of 77°F; January is the coolest, at 72°F and 51°F. September is the wettest at 5.8 inches of precipitation on average and January and February the driest at 1.2 inches; the year adds up to 28.3 inches over 39 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 63% of the year's precipitation (17.8 of 28.3 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 39 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (13); a normal September there has highs of 93°F and 5.8 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 151 days a year, almost all from March to November. Lows fall below freezing on about 1 nights a year. That 28.3 inches is more than at 98 of the 312 Texas stations used on this site (31%). Olmito, 8 miles southeast, has its own station (Brownsville, TX): 26.9 inches a year, 1.4 less than here, and an August average high of 96°F against 98°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Realitos Peninsula, TX, 24 miles northeast, averaged 88°F in August and 62°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from May to October. Sea level at the Port Isabel tide gauge, 26 miles from San Benito, has risen 1.71 ± 0.06 inches per decade from 1944 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 17.1 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 108 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 98 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of San Benito: 49 thunderstorm wind reports, 23 flash floods, 13 heavy rain events, 11 floods and 2 lightning strikes. They killed 0 people and injured 3, and the NWS estimated $106.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 86 mph, on September 19, 2002. May has had the most flash floods, 9 of 23. Of the 745 Texas cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 481 have had fewer than San Benito.

Flood insurance policyholders in San Benito's ZIP code 78586 have filed 520 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $11.0 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Dolly in 2008: 196 claims (38% of all) and $3.4 million, then Flooding in 1991 with 47 and Hurricane Allen in 1980 with 22. 53% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 433 Texas cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 336 have fewer than San Benito.