Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Summerland Key, FL

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Key West NAS, FL, 14 miles southwest of Summerland Key at 6 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 90°F and low of 81°F; January is the coolest, at 75°F and 66°F. September is the wettest at 8.1 inches of precipitation on average and March the driest at 1.4 inches; the year adds up to 43.6 inches over 60 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 71% of the year's precipitation (30.8 of 43.6 inches); the other six months are drier. October has brought the most of the 74 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (27); a normal October there has highs of 85°F and 5.7 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 80 days a year, almost all from May to October. A night below freezing comes less than once a year on average. That 43.6 inches is more than at 3 of the 125 Florida stations used on this site (2%). Big Pine Key, 9 miles east, has its own station (Marathon Airport, FL): 39.7 inches a year, 3.9 less than here, and an August average high of 92°F against 90°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Vaca Key, Florida Bay, FL, 24 miles east, averaged 89°F in July and 72°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from April to October. Sea level at the Key West tide gauge, 22 miles from Summerland Key, has risen 1.04 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1913 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 10.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 58 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 13 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Summerland Key: 9 thunderstorm wind reports, 2 lightning strikes, 1 flood and 1 heavy rain event. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $10,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 75 mph, on February 2, 1998.

Flood insurance policyholders in Summerland Key's ZIP code 33042 have filed 5,022 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1980, and were paid $73.3 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Georges (Keys) in 1998: 1,894 claims (38% of all) and $10.0 million, then Hurricane Irma in 2017 with 1,516 and Hurricane Wilma in 2005 with 1,274. 97% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 340 Florida cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 323 have fewer than Summerland Key.