Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Acton, MA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Maynard 2, MA, 3 miles south of Acton at 205 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 60°F; January is the coolest, at 37°F and 15°F. October is the wettest at 5.1 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 49.9 inches over 84 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 51% of the year's precipitation (25.4 of 49.9 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 46 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (17); a normal September there has highs of 78°F and 3.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 22 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 147 nights a year. That 49.9 inches is more than at 47 of the 65 Massachusetts stations used on this site (72%). Carlisle, 6 miles northeast, has its own station (Bedford, MA): 49.0 inches a year, 0.9 less than here, and a July average high of 84°F against 87°F.

Sea level at the Boston tide gauge, 22 miles from Acton, has risen 1.17 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1921 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 11.7 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 68 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 211 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Acton: 167 thunderstorm wind reports, 26 floods, 12 lightning strikes and 6 flash floods. They killed 0 people and injured 7, and the NWS estimated $3.0 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on July 7, 2014. Of the 339 Massachusetts cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 52 have had fewer than Acton.

Flood insurance policyholders in Acton's ZIP code 01720 have filed 49 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $259,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1987: 13 claims (27% of all) and $37,000, then March 2010 Nor'easter in 2010 with 10. The year with the most claims was 2010, with 11. 63% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 229 Massachusetts cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 127 have fewer than Acton.