Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Wilmington, DE

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Wilmington Porter Rsch, DE, 2 miles northeast of Wilmington at 270 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 84°F and low of 67°F; January is the coolest, at 38°F and 24°F. July is the wettest at 5.2 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.0 inches; the year adds up to 50.5 inches over 81 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (26.8 of 50.5 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 37 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (15); a normal September there has highs of 75°F and 5.1 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 17 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 87 nights a year. Snowfall averages 12.0 inches a year, most of it in January. That 50.5 inches is more than at 10 of the 11 Delaware stations used on this site (91%). Claymont, 6 miles northeast, has its own station (Marcus Hook, PA): 41.8 inches a year, 8.7 less than here, and a July average high of 89°F against 84°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Marcus Hook, PA, 9 miles northeast, 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 Reedy Point tide gauge, 14 miles from Wilmington, has risen 1.55 ± 0.09 inches per decade from 1956 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 15.5 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 93 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 530 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Wilmington: 350 thunderstorm wind reports, 102 flash floods, 49 floods, 15 lightning strikes and 14 heavy rain events. They killed 3 people and injured 20, and the NWS estimated $32.8 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on August 7, 2023. July has had the most flash floods, 39 of 102. Of the 37 Delaware cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 35 have had fewer than Wilmington.

Flood insurance policyholders in Wilmington's 10 ZIP codes have filed 898 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $26.4 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Floyd in 1999: 119 claims (13% of all) and $2.6 million, then Hurricane Ida in 2021 with 79 and Hurricane Irene in 2011 with 72. The year with the most claims was 2003, with 192. 39% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 24 Delaware cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 22 have fewer than Wilmington.