Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Sparks, MD

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Millers 4 NE, MD, 14 miles northwest of Sparks at 860 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 64°F; January is the coolest, at 40°F and 24°F. September is the wettest at 5.1 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.9 inches; the year adds up to 47.8 inches over 81 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (25.4 of 47.8 inches); the other six months are drier. Highs reach 90°F on about 12 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 101 nights a year. Snowfall averages 34.1 inches a year, most of it in February. That 47.8 inches is more than at 32 of the 41 Maryland stations used on this site (78%). Hunt Valley, 5 miles south, has its own station (Md Sci Ctr Baltimore, MD): 44.0 inches a year, 3.8 less than here, and a July average high of 90°F against 85°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Baltimore, MD, 20 miles south, averaged 83°F in July and 40°F in February over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Baltimore tide gauge, 20 miles from Sparks, has risen 1.30 ± 0.02 inches per decade from 1902 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 13.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 77 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 326 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Sparks: 237 thunderstorm wind reports, 49 floods, 37 flash floods, 2 lightning strikes and 1 heavy rain event. They killed 1 person and injured 4, and the NWS estimated $7.0 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 90 mph, on May 29, 2019. August has had the most flash floods, 11 of 37. Of the 239 Maryland cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 120 have had fewer than Sparks.

Flood insurance policyholders in Sparks's ZIP code 21152 have filed 30 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $179,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The year with the most claims was 1979, with 17. Of the 150 Maryland cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 54 have fewer than Sparks.