Portsmouth

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 Portsmouth city, the county that contains Portsmouth.

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.

River crests

River gauges in Portsmouth city, the county that contains Portsmouth.

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

The drought index is for Portsmouth city, the county that contains Portsmouth.

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.

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. Oct 8, 2016Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain caused an extended period of significant flooding across much of the city. Numerous roads were impassable or closed for several days, and many homes and businesses were impacted.

2. Jun 14, 2017Lightning$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning strike damaged a church on Columbus Avenue.

3. Jun 6, 2007Lightning$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A house on Long Point Boulevard was struck by lightning. The resulting fire damage a large part of the roof and caused some structural damage to the house.

4. Apr 28, 2008Tornado$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The tornado moved from northeast Suffolk across northern portions of Portsmouth. The tornado maintained close contact with the ground and downed several trees and produced some structural damage. While in Suffolk, the tornado was rated as EF3, but in Portsmouth it was rated as EF1.

5. Jun 16, 2023Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Port of Virginia VIG Terminal reported significant damage to three cranes and toppled 100 containers from their stacks.

6. May 1, 1997Hail$25,000
7. May 16, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tree fell onto an apartment building, causing the building to partially collapse.

8. Feb 28, 1999Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
9. Jun 19, 2025Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A tree fell on a car heading east of I-264 near the intersection with Fredrick Blvd. There were minor injuries to the person.

10. Mar 5, 2025Lightning$5,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    An Emergency Manager reported a fire response for a house due to a lightning strike. However, no major damage was reported.

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

105°F2 times, most recently Jul 25, 2010

All-time low

−3°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

83°FJul 8, 2012

Coldest day

13°F2 times, most recently Jan 19, 1994

Wettest day

8.93 inSep 1, 2006

Snowiest day

13.6 inFeb 18, 1989

Hottest year

2020mean 64.0°F

Coldest year

1966mean 57.2°F

Wettest year

201668.86 in

Driest year

198626.48 in

Snowiest season

41.9 in1979-80

Station Norfolk International Airport (USW00013737), 11 ft elevation, 9.6 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1946 to October 27, 2026; 100.0% 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 Portsmouth city.

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 USW00013737.
• 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.