NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Washington, DC
Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
33 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Washington, District of Columbia since 1851, 3 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Zeta in 2020. Since 1950, 113 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 3 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 3
- Tropical storms
- 30
- Tornadoes
- 113
- EF3 or stronger
- 3
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
3 deaths in all
What the records show for Washington
The strongest storm to pass near Washington was an unnamed storm in 1878, a Category 1 hurricane with 92 mph winds when its centre passed 10 miles away. The record near Washington begins with an unnamed storm in 1872; the most recent system was Zeta in 2020, a tropical storm 52 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1870s, with 5 systems, one of them at hurricane strength. Of the 33 systems, 5 have come since 2000. The highest rating among the 113 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 3 times; the most recent, on September 24, 2001, came within 2 miles. Of the 113, 8 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 62 have come since 2000. June and July have had the most tornadoes, 18 each. The most recent tornado was on June 18, 2025. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 180 times since 1956, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size).
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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Washington
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | ZetaOct 29 | 52 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 3 |
| 2020 | IsaiasAug 4 | 42 mi | Tropical storm (67 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2012 | SandyOct 30 | 74 mi | Tropical storm (61 mph) | Category 3 |
| 2008 | HannaSep 6 | 60 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2006 | ErnestoSep 2 | 17 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1996 | BerthaJul 13 | 64 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1992 | DanielleSep 26 | 67 mi | Tropical storm (43 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1963 | Unnamed 1963 stormJun 3 | 66 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1955 | DianeAug 18 | 32 mi | Tropical storm (43 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1955 | ConnieAug 13 | 24 mi | Tropical storm (59 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1954 | HazelOct 15 | 28 mi | Category 1 (84 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1952 | AbleSep 1 | 30 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1949 | Unnamed 1949 stormAug 29 | 45 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1945 | Unnamed 1945 stormSep 18 | 26 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1944 | Unnamed 1944 stormAug 2 | 49 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1943 | Unnamed 1943 stormOct 1 | 18 mi | Tropical storm (47 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1934 | Unnamed 1934 stormJun 19 | 22 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1933 | Unnamed 1933 stormAug 24 | 9 mi | Tropical storm (62 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1929 | Unnamed 1929 stormOct 2 | 14 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1928 | Unnamed 1928 stormSep 20 | 40 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormAug 4 | 15 mi | Tropical storm (47 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormOct 12 | 72 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1899 | Unnamed 1899 stormNov 1 | 21 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormOct 23 | 17 mi | Tropical storm (44 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormOct 14 | 57 mi | Category 1 (75 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 29 | 22 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormSep 11 | 64 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1885 | Unnamed 1885 stormOct 13 | 53 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1878 | Unnamed 1878 stormOct 23 | 10 mi | Category 1 (92 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1877 | Unnamed 1877 stormOct 4 | 71 mi | Tropical storm (64 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1876 | Unnamed 1876 stormSep 18 | 27 mi | Tropical storm (67 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1874 | Unnamed 1874 stormSep 29 | 71 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1872 | Unnamed 1872 stormOct 26 | 68 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Washington: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Washington
By decade
- 2020s15
- 2010s28
- 2000s19(1 EF3+)
- 1990s29
- 1980s4
- 1970s10(2 EF3+)
- 1960s5
- 1950s3
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 24, 2001 | F3 | 2 mi | 17.5 mi | 2 / 55 |
| Sep 5, 1979 | F3 | 8 mi | 17.9 mi | 1 / 6 |
| Apr 1, 1973 | F3 | 9 mi | 9.8 mi | 0 / 37 |
| Sep 1, 2021 | EF2 | 23 mi | 11.43 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 17, 2004 | F2 | 22 mi | 15 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jun 24, 1996 | F2 | 13 mi | 20 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Oct 5, 1995 | F2 | 7 mi | 2.5 mi | 0 / 3 |
| Oct 13, 1983 | F2 | 10 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 28, 1981 | F2 | 23 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 27, 1978 | F2 | 23 mi | 6.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 20, 1978 | F2 | 17 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 12, 1971 | F2 | 7 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 113, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Washington
The Storm Prediction Center has 180 hail reports within 10 miles of Washington since 1956, made on 89 separate days. Of these, 112 were 1 inch across or larger, and one reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.75 inches (baseball size), fell on July 10, 1975. The most recent report is from May 16, 2025. April has the most reports, 40.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Washington
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Natl Arboretum Dc, MD, 2 miles east of Washington at 50 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 90°F and low of 71°F; January is the coolest, at 45°F and 28°F. June and July are the wettest at 4.6 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 45.6 inches over 79 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (24.4 of 45.6 inches); the other six months are drier. October has brought the most of the 33 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (12); a normal October there has highs of 70°F and 4.2 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 47 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 84 nights a year. Snowfall averages 9.7 inches a year, most of it in January. Takoma Park, MD, 5 miles north, has its own station (Beltsville, MD): 44.0 inches a year, 1.6 less than here, and a July average high of 87°F against 90°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Washington, DC, 3 miles south, 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, 3 miles from Washington, 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.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 45 | 28 | 3.0 | 6 | 4.7 | 39 |
| Feb | 48 | 30 | 2.8 | 5 | 2.3 | 41 |
| Mar | 56 | 37 | 4.0 | 7 | 1.4 | 50 |
| Apr | 68 | 46 | 3.4 | 7 | 0.0 | 60 |
| May | 77 | 57 | 4.3 | 8 | 0.0 | 69 |
| Jun | 85 | 66 | 4.6 | 8 | 0.0 | 77 |
| Jul | 90 | 71 | 4.6 | 7 | 0.0 | 84 |
| Aug | 88 | 69 | 3.7 | 7 | 0.0 | 82 |
| Sep | 82 | 62 | 4.1 | 6 | 0.0 | 76 |
| Oct | 70 | 49 | 4.2 | 5 | 0.0 | 66 |
| Nov | 58 | 39 | 3.2 | 5 | 0.0 | 54 |
| Dec | 49 | 32 | 3.7 | 7 | 1.3 | 42 |
| Year | 68 | 49 | 45.6 | 79 | 9.7 | 62 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Natl Arboretum Dc, MD (50 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Washington, DC, from NOAA Tides & Currents. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Washington
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 1,643 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Washington: 1,109 thunderstorm wind reports, 312 flash floods, 210 floods, 11 lightning strikes and 1 heavy rain event. They killed 10 people and injured 61, and the NWS estimated $72.0 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 96 mph, on June 22, 2012. July has had the most flash floods, 111 of 312.
August 4, 2022: lightning strike 2 miles from the centre of Washington — 3 killed.
NWS: “Three people were killed and another suffered life-threatening injuries when they were struck by lightning in Lafayette Park across the street from The White House. A couple (76-year-old male, 75-year-old female) and an unrelated (29-year-old male) succumbed to their injuries from the lightning strike the next day.”
June 26, 2009: thunderstorm wind 6 miles from the centre of Washington — 2 killed, 6 injured.
June 27, 2015: flash flood 7 miles from the centre of Washington — 2 killed, $10,000 damage.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Flood insurance policyholders in Washington's 22 ZIP codes have filed 496 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $5.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1996: 14 claims (3% of all) and $435,000. The year with the most claims was 2020, with 63. 6% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1996 | 14 | $435,000 |
District of Columbia, which includes Washington, has been named in 23 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1989, 14 of them major disasters (by incident: 8 severe storms, 6 hurricanes, 3 snowstorms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on March 29, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives District of Columbia a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for strong wind and lightning; Relatively High for hurricanes, tornadoes, hail, inland flooding and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for coastal flooding. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $292.5 million a year, the highest of 1 District of Columbia counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $130.1 million (44%), is from inland flooding.
Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.
Cities near Washington
- Mount Rainier, MD3 mi
- Brentwood, MD4 mi
- Bladensburg, MD5 mi
- Takoma Park, MD5 mi
- Hyattsville, MD5 mi
- Arlington, VA5 mi
- Capitol Heights, MD6 mi
- Riverdale, MD6 mi
- Chevy Chase, MD6 mi
- Landover, MD7 mi
- College Park, MD7 mi
- Suitland, MD7 mi
All District of Columbia cities →All hurricanes since 1851 →Compare Washington with another place →