Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Smithfield, VA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Newport News International Airport, VA, 13 miles northeast of Smithfield at 42 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 70°F; January is the coolest, at 49°F and 31°F. August is the wettest at 5.4 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.6 inches; the year adds up to 45.5 inches over 73 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 58% of the year's precipitation (26.4 of 45.5 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 82 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (34); a normal September there has highs of 81°F and 5.0 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 43 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 64 nights a year. That 45.5 inches is more than at 50 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (46%). Windsor, 12 miles southwest, has its own station (Suffolk Lake Kilby, VA): 52.1 inches a year, 6.6 more than here, and a July average high of 87°F against 88°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Sewells Point, VA, 17 miles east, averaged 81°F in July and 44°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Sewells Point tide gauge, 17 miles from Smithfield, has risen 1.90 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1927 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 19.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 115 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 180 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Smithfield: 99 thunderstorm wind reports, 39 heavy rain events, 31 flash floods, 8 floods and 3 lightning strikes. They killed 0 people and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $6.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 72 mph, on June 22, 2018. September has had the most flash floods, 15 of 31. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 256 have had fewer than Smithfield.

Flood insurance policyholders in Smithfield's ZIP code 23430 have filed 94 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1982, and were paid $1.3 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Isabel in 2003: 16 claims (17% of all) and $421,000, then November 2009 Nor'easter in 2009 with 14. The year with the most claims was 2006, with 22. 55% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 183 Virginia cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 132 have fewer than Smithfield.