Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Sulphur, LA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Lake Charles, LA, 12 miles southeast of Sulphur at 13 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 93°F and low of 75°F; January is the coolest, at 63°F and 43°F. June is the wettest at 6.5 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 59.8 inches over 71 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (32.5 of 59.8 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 48 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (21); a normal September there has highs of 89°F and 5.2 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 88 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 11 nights a year. That 59.8 inches is more than at 33 of the 81 Louisiana stations used on this site (41%). Westlake, 7 miles east, has its own station (Moss Bluff 2 NNW, LA): 69.3 inches a year, 9.5 more than here, and an August average high of 92°F against 93°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Bulk Terminal, LA, 5 miles east, averaged 93°F in August and 62°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from May to October. Sea level at the Sabine Pass tide gauge, 45 miles from Sulphur, has risen 2.43 ± 0.15 inches per decade from 1958 to 2020, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 24.3 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 136 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 131 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Sulphur: 87 thunderstorm wind reports, 33 flash floods, 5 lightning strikes, 4 floods and 2 heavy rain events. They killed 5 people and injured 16, and the NWS estimated $509.8 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on May 26, 2010. May has had the most flash floods, 8 of 33. Of the 239 Louisiana cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 185 have had fewer than Sulphur.

Flood insurance policyholders in Sulphur's 2 ZIP codes have filed 1,460 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $32.4 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Rita in 2005: 257 claims (18% of all) and $6.6 million, then Hurricane Ike in 2008 with 226 and Flooding in 1980 with 146. 55% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 219 Louisiana cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 174 have fewer than Sulphur.