Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit West Chester, PA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is W Chester 2 NW, PA, 2 miles west of West Chester at 375 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 64°F; January is the coolest, at 40°F and 20°F. September is the wettest at 5.7 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.1 inches; the year adds up to 51.0 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 (27.3 of 51.0 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 35 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (13); a normal September there has highs of 78°F and 5.7 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 27 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 131 nights a year. Snowfall averages 30.5 inches a year, most of it in February. That 51.0 inches is more than at 138 of the 148 Pennsylvania stations used on this site (93%). Glen Mills, 7 miles southeast, has its own station (Marcus Hook, PA): 41.8 inches a year, 9.2 less than here, and a July average high of 89°F against 86°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Marcus Hook, PA, 14 miles southeast, averaged 82°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 Philadelphia tide gauge, 24 miles from West Chester, has risen 1.24 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1900 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 12.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 73 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 592 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of West Chester: 404 thunderstorm wind reports, 108 flash floods, 60 floods, 11 lightning strikes and 9 heavy rain events. They killed 1 person and injured 16, and the NWS estimated $27.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 76 mph, on June 24, 2010. July has had the most flash floods, 46 of 108. Of the 788 Pennsylvania cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 682 have had fewer than West Chester.

Flood insurance policyholders in West Chester's 2 ZIP codes have filed 475 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $10.1 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Floyd in 1999: 45 claims (9% of all) and $1.1 million, then Not a named storm in 1979 with 30 and Hurricane Irene in 2011 with 23. The year with the most claims was 1979, with 59. 32% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 553 Pennsylvania cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 526 have fewer than West Chester.