Hilton Head Island

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond this area.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Every storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 to 2025.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Flood insurance figures are for Beaufort County, the county that contains Hilton Head Island.

Claims by ZIP code

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).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

The drought index is for Beaufort County, the county that contains Hilton Head Island.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the city centre.
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Aug 19, 2018Lightning$1.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Island Packet Newspaper reported a house in the Pleasant Point neighborhood was struck by lightning and burned to the ground.

2. Aug 20, 2001Lightning$1.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning caused fire burned down a 7500 square foot home.

3. Jan 15, 2011Wildfire, Beaufort$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Reports originating from an Insurance Company indicated that a wildfire burned nearly 269 acres near Bluffton, South Carolina.

4. Mar 15, 2008Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Beaufort County Emergency Manager and the fixed airport base operator reported that sixty two planes sustained damage due to golf ball to baseball sized hail. Approximately ten percent of the planes were reported a total loss, twenty five percent were no longer air worthy, and the rest had repairable damage. In addition numerous cars sustained damage.

5. Jul 7, 2021Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A National Weather Service (NWS) storm survey team determined that an EF-1 tornado occurred near Port Royal in Beaufort County. This tornado was likely part of the same storm that hit Parris Island just to the south. It began near 11th Street, between Paris and London Avenues, where it snapped several trees including one tree that hit a home on 11th Street. The tornado continued northward across 14th and 15th Streets, close to Paris Avenue. Many hardwood trees and large limbs were snapped in this area, which also took down some powerlines along Paris Avenue. The tornado then moved across the southern portion of Paris Avenue West, snapping more trees and limbs with some falling on…

6. Sep 3, 1998Tornado$360,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thirteen homes were destroyed and another thirteen were heavily damaged, most of them were mobile homes. One mobile home was flipped in the air and smashed to the ground where a 66 -year old female was crushed to death. Numerous trees were snapped off 5 to 15 feet above the ground with others uprooted. The worse of the damage was concentrated in an area approximately 2.5 to 3 miles long across Fripp Island to near Morgan Island. The tornado then crossed the St Helena Sound and moved into Colleton County.

7. Sep 2, 2016Tropical Storm, Beaufort$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Beaufort County Emergency Management reported numerous trees blown down across the county due to the passage of Tropical Storm Hermine. Impacted communities include Laurel Bay, Ladys Island, Hilton Head, and Bluffton. Some trees blocked roadways and fell on homes and cars causing various degrees of damage. In Hilton Head, down trees caused significant damage to 13 homes with an estimated total damage of approximately $250,000. The ASOS site at KNBC measured a peak wind gust of 45 miles per hours. Other observations sites in the county measured gusts ranging from 48 to 62 miles per hour.

8. Apr 15, 2001Lightning$175,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning caused fire struck a home and did extensive damage.

9. Sep 30, 2007High Surf, Beaufort$160,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Significant Beach Erosion took place along area beaches as High Astronomical Tides combined with strong Northeast winds across the coastal waters. Significant Beach Erosion was reported at Hunting Island State Park. Several beach front cabins were damaged and or undermined by high surf around the times of high tide.

10. Sep 26, 2024Tropical Storm, Beaufort$110,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Strong winds associated with Helene produced widespread trees down across the county with many on homes, power lines, and vehicles. Beaufort County Emergency Management reported at least 79 homes impacted during the event, with 3 of those destroyed and 24 others sustaining major damage. Peak wind gusts during the event include 75 mph at Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station (KNBC) and 70 mph at the Beaufort Weatherflow site on St Helena Island.

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

106°F2 times, most recently Jul 20, 1986

All-time low

5°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

83°FJul 21, 2026

Coldest day

21°FDec 23, 1989

Wettest day

8.91 inOct 7, 2016

Snowiest day

6.4 inFeb 10, 1973

Hottest year

2019mean 69.7°F

Coldest year

1976mean 63.4°F

Wettest year

196467.63 in

Driest year

200430.95 in

Station Beaufort Mcas (USW00093831), 37 ft elevation, 20.3 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1945 to October 25, 2026; 87.0% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

Declarations for Beaufort County.

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).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USW00093831.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.