Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit West Palm Beach, FL

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is West Palm Beach International Airport, FL, 1 mile south of West Palm Beach at 19 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 90°F and low of 77°F; January is the coolest, at 75°F and 58°F. August is the wettest at 8.7 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.6 inches; the year adds up to 61.8 inches over 86 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 65% of the year's precipitation (40.3 of 61.8 inches); the other six months are drier. October has brought the most of the 85 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (27); a normal October there has highs of 85°F and 5.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 74 days a year, almost all from April to October. A night below freezing comes less than once a year on average. That 61.8 inches is more than at 100 of the 125 Florida stations used on this site (80%). Riviera Beach, 6 miles northeast, has its own station (Juno Beach, FL): 72.4 inches a year, 10.6 more than here, and an August average high of 91°F against 90°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Lake Worth Pier, Atlantic Ocean, FL, 8 miles southeast, averaged 86°F in August and 75°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from May to October. Sea level at the Lake Worth Pier tide gauge, 8 miles from West Palm Beach, has risen 1.62 ± 0.10 inches per decade from 1970 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 16.2 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 99 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 156 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of West Palm Beach: 97 thunderstorm wind reports, 26 floods, 19 lightning strikes, 12 flash floods and 2 heavy rain events. They killed 3 people and injured 12, and the NWS estimated $15.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 92 mph, on August 2, 2004. August has had the most flash floods, 4 of 12. Of the 277 Florida cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 189 have had fewer than West Palm Beach.

Flood insurance policyholders in West Palm Beach's 8 ZIP codes have filed 874 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $5.1 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Frances in 2004: 193 claims (22% of all) and $2.0 million, then Hurricane Irene in 1999 with 132 and Flooding in 1982 with 107. 68% 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, 233 have fewer than West Palm Beach.