Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Suffolk, VA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Suffolk Lake Kilby, VA, 4 miles southwest of Suffolk at 22 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 70°F; January is the coolest, at 49°F and 31°F. August and September are the wettest at 5.8 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.0 inches; the year adds up to 52.1 inches over 80 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 58% of the year's precipitation (30.0 of 52.1 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 85 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (34); a normal September there has highs of 80°F and 5.8 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 27 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 56 nights a year. Snowfall averages 5.8 inches a year, most of it in January. That 52.1 inches is more than at 103 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (94%). Carrollton, 12 miles north, has its own station (Newport News International Airport, VA): 45.5 inches a year, 6.6 less than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 87°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Money Point, VA, 14 miles east, averaged 82°F in July and 46°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 Suffolk, 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 193 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Suffolk: 131 thunderstorm wind reports, 37 heavy rain events, 17 flash floods, 5 floods and 3 lightning strikes. They killed 0 people and injured 3, and the NWS estimated $21.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 72 mph, on June 22, 2018. August has had the most flash floods, 5 of 17. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 153 have had fewer than Suffolk.

Flood insurance policyholders in Suffolk's 7 ZIP codes have filed 232 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $5.1 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Matthew in 2016: 36 claims (16% of all) and $2.1 million, then Hurricane Isabel in 2003 with 31 and November 2009 Nor'easter in 2009 with 26. 65% 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, 157 have fewer than Suffolk.