Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Astoria, NY

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is New York Laguardia Airport, NY, 2 miles east of Astoria at 11 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 72°F; January is the coolest, at 40°F and 29°F. August is the wettest at 4.4 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.9 inches; the year adds up to 45.4 inches over 75 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 52% of the year's precipitation (23.6 of 45.4 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 46 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (21); a normal September there has highs of 77°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 62 nights a year. Snowfall averages 29.8 inches a year, most of it in February. That 45.4 inches is more than at 85 of the 137 New York stations used on this site (62%). Long Island City, 3 miles south, has its own station (New York Cntrl Pk Twr, NY): 49.6 inches a year, 4.2 more than here, and a July average high of 85°F against 86°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station The Battery, NY, 7 miles southwest, averaged 74°F in August and 39°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the The Battery tide gauge, 7 miles from Astoria, has risen 1.16 ± 0.02 inches per decade from 1856 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 11.6 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 66 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 682 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Astoria: 310 thunderstorm wind reports, 296 flash floods, 53 floods, 20 lightning strikes and 3 heavy rain events. They killed 21 people and injured 48, and the NWS estimated $304.8 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 125 mph, on September 16, 2010. July has had the most flash floods, 77 of 296. Of the 798 New York cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 796 have had fewer than Astoria.

Flood insurance policyholders in Astoria's 4 ZIP codes have filed 98 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $3.1 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Sandy in 2012: 31 claims (32% of all) and $2.4 million, then Hurricane Ida in 2021 with 14. 70% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 549 New York cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 375 have fewer than Astoria.