Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Sterling, VA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is WFO Sterling, VA, 6 miles southwest of Sterling at 288 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 67°F; January is the coolest, at 42°F and 25°F. May is the wettest at 4.9 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.6 inches; the year adds up to 45.1 inches over 77 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (23.7 of 45.1 inches); the other six months are drier. October has brought the most of the 26 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (9); a normal October there has highs of 68°F and 4.0 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 32 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 119 nights a year. That 45.1 inches is more than at 42 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (39%). Herndon, 5 miles south, has its own station (Washington Dc Dulles Airport, VA): 43.2 inches a year, 1.9 less than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 87°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Washington, DC, 23 miles southeast, averaged 84°F in July and 39°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Washington tide gauge, 23 miles from Sterling, has risen 1.40 ± 0.05 inches per decade from 1924 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 14.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 84 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 706 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Sterling: 437 thunderstorm wind reports, 168 floods, 97 flash floods and 4 lightning strikes. They killed 6 people and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $5.0 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 90 mph, on July 25, 2010. July has had the most flash floods, 45 of 97. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 331 have had fewer than Sterling.

Flood insurance policyholders in Sterling's 3 ZIP codes have filed 66 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1985, and were paid $1.3 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1996: 12 claims (18% of all) and $450,000, then Hurricane Fran in 1996 with 12. 39% 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, 113 have fewer than Sterling.