Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Williamsburg, VA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Williamsburg 2 N, VA, 2 miles northeast of Williamsburg at 70 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 89°F and low of 70°F; January is the coolest, at 49°F and 31°F. July is the wettest at 5.9 inches of precipitation on average and February and November the driest at 3.1 inches; the year adds up to 51.4 inches over 81 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 55% of the year's precipitation (28.5 of 51.4 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 70 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (28); a normal September there has highs of 81°F and 5.4 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 37 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 68 nights a year. Snowfall averages 4.3 inches a year, most of it in January. That 51.4 inches is more than at 99 of the 109 Virginia stations used on this site (91%). Fort Eustis, 12 miles southeast, has its own station (Newport News International Airport, VA): 45.5 inches a year, 5.9 less than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 89°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Yorktown USCG Training Center, VA, 14 miles east, averaged 81°F in July and 43°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Yorktown tide gauge, 14 miles from Williamsburg, has risen 1.91 ± 0.06 inches per decade from 1950 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 19.1 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 116 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 315 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Williamsburg: 151 thunderstorm wind reports, 125 heavy rain events, 21 flash floods, 9 floods and 9 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 10, and the NWS estimated $3.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 82 mph, on January 11, 2014. Of the 364 Virginia cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 194 have had fewer than Williamsburg.

Flood insurance policyholders in Williamsburg's 2 ZIP codes have filed 242 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $3.4 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Isabel in 2003: 75 claims (31% of all) and $1.0 million, then Hurricane Floyd in 1999 with 64 and Tropical Storm Ernesto in 2006 with 11. 72% 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, 158 have fewer than Williamsburg.