Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Virginia Beach, VA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Oceana NAS, VA, 4 miles east of Virginia Beach at 23 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 70°F; January is the coolest, at 50°F and 32°F. July is the wettest at 5.8 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 47.0 inches over 77 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 57% of the year's precipitation (27.0 of 47.0 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 94 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (37); a normal September there has highs of 80°F and 4.6 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 50 nights a year. Snowfall averages 3.4 inches a year, most of it in January. That 47.0 inches is more than at 71 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (65%). Norfolk, 10 miles northwest, has its own station (Norfolk S, VA): 53.6 inches a year, 6.6 more than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 87°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Money Point, VA, 12 miles west, 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 Chesapeake Channel tide gauge, 15 miles from Virginia Beach, has risen 2.42 ± 0.11 inches per decade from 1975 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 24.2 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 135 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 396 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Virginia Beach: 186 thunderstorm wind reports, 97 heavy rain events, 85 flash floods, 16 floods and 12 lightning strikes. They killed 4 people and injured 13, and the NWS estimated $8.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 94 mph, on May 21, 1998. July has had the most flash floods, 32 of 85. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 329 have had fewer than Virginia Beach.

Flood insurance policyholders in Virginia Beach's 9 ZIP codes have filed 6,263 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $103.1 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Matthew in 2016: 1,387 claims (22% of all) and $52.3 million, then November 2009 Nor'easter in 2009 with 809 and Hurricane Isabel in 2003 with 620. 70% 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, 182 have fewer than Virginia Beach.