Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Southport, NC

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Southport 5 N, NC, 4 miles northeast of Southport at 20 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 92°F and low of 73°F; January is the coolest, at 60°F and 36°F. September is the wettest at 8.2 inches of precipitation on average and April the driest at 3.1 inches; the year adds up to 54.6 inches over 72 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 61% of the year's precipitation (33.4 of 54.6 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 122 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (42); a normal September there has highs of 87°F and 8.2 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 46 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 51 nights a year. That 54.6 inches is more than at 105 of the 140 North Carolina stations used on this site (75%). Supply, 14 miles west, has its own station (Shallotte Ag, NC): 56.7 inches a year, 2.1 more than here, and a July average high of 87°F against 92°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Wilmington, NC, 19 miles north, 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, 19 miles from Southport, 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 79 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Southport: 35 thunderstorm wind reports, 19 flash floods, 11 floods, 10 lightning strikes and 4 heavy rain events. They killed 0 people and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $1.6 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 77 mph, on March 12, 2022. September has had the most flash floods, 11 of 19. Of the 472 North Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 270 have had fewer than Southport.

Flood insurance policyholders in Southport's ZIP code 28461 have filed 1,432 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $20.7 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Florence in 2018: 518 claims (36% of all) and $8.7 million, then Hurricane Floyd in 1999 with 204 and Tropical Cyclone Eight in 2024 with 134. 84% 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, 243 have fewer than Southport.