Pennsylvania hurricanes and tropical storms

Every recorded hurricane or tropical storm record since 1996 · 40 counties with a record

NOAA's Storm Events Database records 94 hurricane and tropical storm records in Pennsylvania from 1996 through June 30, 2026, about 15 a year since 2000. The deadliest was Hurricane Irene (August 28, 2011): 1 death and $4.6 million in damage in 2025 dollars across 6 records. Pennsylvania ranks 17th of 34 states and territories by count and 22nd of 33 per square mile.

Hurricanes and tropical storms in Pennsylvania, 1996 to 2026

Tropical records per year (NOAA Storm Events); 2026 to June 30, 2026.

recorded, no damage figure
under $1 million
$1 million or more
$10 million or more
$100 million or more, or 10 deaths
$1 billion or more, or 100 deaths
a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
a year with a death

Records: 941996 to June 30, 2026
A year since 2000: 15average
Deaths: 11 injuries
Damage, 2025 dollars: $5.1Mas filed
Busiest year: 200348 records

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; deaths and damage as filed, damage in 2025 dollars. Search the record at NCEI.

Are hurricane and tropical storm records common in Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania averages about 15 hurricane and tropical storm records a year since 2000, 17th of 34 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2003 (48). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Pennsylvania records 21 hurricane and tropical storm records since 1996, 22nd of 33 states and territories by that measure.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1996, per 10,000 square miles of land area (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles not ranked). Damage colours: Storm Events damage, 2025 dollars.

Which counties in Pennsylvania have the most hurricane and tropical storm records?

Per square mile, Philadelphia County leads Pennsylvania: 18 days with a hurricane or tropical storm record since 1996, 134.0 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Delaware County has the most tropical records (20 since 1996); large counties collect more records simply by covering more ground, so the ranking counts days with a record per unit of area (a storm filed for several forecast zones adds several records but one day).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1996 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.

When is hurricane season in Pennsylvania?

72% of its hurricane and tropical storm records since 1996 fell in August and September. The busiest month is September (46 records).

The values, month by month

Jan 3 · Feb 0 · Mar 5 · Apr 0 · May 1 · Jun 0 · Jul 0 · Aug 22 · Sep 46 · Oct 4 · Nov 4 · Dec 9 (records).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1996.

What were the deadliest hurricane and tropical storm records in Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania: the storms with the most deaths since 1996
Date	Record	Character	Killed	Injured	Damage
2011-08-28	Hurricane Irene · Tropical StormMonroe County · forecast zone Monroe One storm episode: 6 records in 6 places; the totals are the episode's. Irene produced heavy flooding rain, tropical storm force wind gusts with hundreds of thousands of outages, moderate tidal flooding along the Delaware River and one flooding related death in Eastern Pennsylvania over the weekend of August 27th and 28th. Moderate stream and river flooding occurred in the Poconos and ...		1	0	$4.6M

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths direct and indirect, as filed by the National Weather Service, summed over each storm (one episode, or one named storm filed by several offices). Storm names from the titles of FEMA declarations that name the storm's counties.

The costliest hurricane and tropical storm records in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania: the most damaging storms since 1993, 2025 dollars
Date	Record	Character	Killed	Injured	Damage
2011-08-28	Hurricane Irene · Tropical StormMonroe County · forecast zone Monroe One storm episode: 6 records in 6 places; the totals are the episode's.		1	0	$4.6M

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.

Are hurricane and tropical storm records becoming more frequent in Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. NOAA recorded every event type only from 1996, so earlier decades are not comparable; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.

Hurricanes and tropical storms: Pennsylvania and the United States by decade (2020s to June 30, 2026)
Decade	Pennsylvania	United States	Pennsylvania's share
1996-99	2	1,123	0.2%
2000s	70	4,928	1.4%
2010s	12	2,761	0.4%
2020-26	10	2,697	0.4%

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.

The most recent hurricane and tropical storm records in Pennsylvania

The 7 most recent records, to June 30, 2026
Date	Record	Killed	Injured	Damage
2011-08-28	Tropical StormMonroe County · forecast zone Monroe	1	0	$230K
2011-08-27	Tropical StormNorthampton County · forecast zone Northampton	0	0	$984K
2011-08-27	Tropical StormLehigh County · forecast zone Lehigh	0	0	$656K
2011-08-27	Tropical StormDelaware County · forecast zone Delaware	0	0	$656K
2011-08-27	Tropical StormChester County · forecast zone Chester	0	0	$1.1M
2011-08-27	Tropical StormBucks County · forecast zone Bucks	0	0	$918K
2003-09-19	Storm Surge/TidePhiladelphia County · forecast zone Philadelphia	0	1	–

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; the newest months are revised by NCEI as reports arrive. Search the record at NCEI.

Federal disaster declarations for hurricane and tropical storm records in Pennsylvania

FEMA has declared 15 disasters in Pennsylvania for hurricane and tropical storm, counting its incident type and declarations that name hurricane or tropical storm or typhoon in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 11 were major disasters, the latest on September 11, 2024.

The 12 most recent
Declared	Number	Title	Areas named
2024-09-11	DR-4815	Tropical Storm Debby	13
2021-09-10	DR-4618	Remnants of Hurricane Ida	13
2013-01-10	DR-4099	Hurricane Sandy	18
2012-10-29	EM-3356	Hurricane Sandy	68
2011-09-12	DR-4030	Tropical Storm Lee	34
2011-09-08	EM-3340	Remnants of Tropical Storm Lee	42
2011-09-03	DR-4025	Hurricane Irene	14
2011-08-29	EM-3339	Hurricane Irene	13
2005-09-10	EM-3235	Hurricane Katrina	67
2004-09-19	DR-1557	Tropical Depression Ivan	67
2003-09-26	DR-1497	Tropical Storms Henri and Isabel and Related Severe Storms and Flooding	1
2001-06-21	DR-1383	Tropical Storm Allison	3

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.