Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Arlington, MA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Bedford Hanscom Field, MA, 7 miles northwest of Arlington at 133 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 62°F; January is the coolest, at 37°F and 18°F. October is the wettest at 4.2 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.7 inches; the year adds up to 42.6 inches over 78 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 52% of the year's precipitation (22.1 of 42.6 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 48 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (18); a normal September there has highs of 76°F and 3.5 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 15 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 139 nights a year. That 42.6 inches is more than at 5 of the 65 Massachusetts stations used on this site (8%). Belmont, 2 miles south, has its own station (Jamaica Plain, MA): 49.4 inches a year, 6.8 more than here, and the same July average high, 85°F.

Sea level at the Boston tide gauge, 7 miles from Arlington, 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 576 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Arlington: 362 thunderstorm wind reports, 134 floods, 50 flash floods and 30 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 22, and the NWS estimated $42.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on July 7, 2014. July has had the most flash floods, 32 of 50. Of the 339 Massachusetts cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 305 have had fewer than Arlington.

Flood insurance policyholders in Arlington's 2 ZIP codes have filed 395 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $2.0 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from March 2010 Nor'easter in 2010: 55 claims (14% of all) and $738,000, then Flooding in 2001 with 42 and April 2007 Nor'easter in 2007 with 13. 35% 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, 215 have fewer than Arlington.