Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Stafford, VA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Quantico Mcas, VA, 8 miles northeast of Stafford at 10 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 71°F; January is the coolest, at 45°F and 28°F. July is the wettest at 4.6 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.4 inches; the year adds up to 40.9 inches over 70 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (22.1 of 40.9 inches); the other six months are drier. October has brought the most of the 33 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (11); a normal October there has highs of 69°F and 3.3 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 29 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 76 nights a year. Snowfall averages 12.4 inches a year, most of it in February. That 40.9 inches is more than at 10 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (9%). Fredericksburg, 11 miles southwest, has its own station (Fredericksburg Sewage, VA): 43.4 inches a year, 2.5 more than here, and a July average high of 89°F against 88°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Dahlgren, VA, 23 miles southeast, averaged 85°F in July and 40°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Dahlgren tide gauge, 23 miles from Stafford, has risen 2.24 ± 0.12 inches per decade from 1972 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 22.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 127 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 390 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Stafford: 275 thunderstorm wind reports, 84 floods, 29 flash floods, 1 heavy rain event and 1 lightning strike. They killed 1 person and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $1.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 101 mph, on July 14, 1996. September has had the most flash floods, 14 of 29. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 246 have had fewer than Stafford.

Flood insurance policyholders in Stafford's 2 ZIP codes have filed 110 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $797,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Isabel in 2003: 29 claims (26% of all) and $379,000. 44% 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, 138 have fewer than Stafford.