Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Belle Mead, NJ

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Wertsville 4 NE, NJ, 8 miles west of Belle Mead at 283 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 64°F; January is the coolest, at 38°F and 22°F. July is the wettest at 5.5 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.0 inches; the year adds up to 51.1 inches over 87 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (26.9 of 51.1 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 44 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (17); a normal September there has highs of 77°F and 4.5 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 17 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 118 nights a year. Snowfall averages 23.9 inches a year, most of it in February. That 51.1 inches is more than at 45 of the 51 New Jersey stations used on this site (88%). Franklin Park, 4 miles east, has its own station (New Brunswick 3 SE, NJ): 49.5 inches a year, 1.6 less than here, and a July average high of 87°F against 85°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Newbold, PA, 23 miles south, averaged 80°F in July and 37°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July. Sea level at the Bergen Point tide gauge, 29 miles from Belle Mead, has risen 1.86 ± 0.13 inches per decade from 1981 to 2024, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 18.6 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 114 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 459 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Belle Mead: 267 thunderstorm wind reports, 83 floods, 68 flash floods, 23 heavy rain events and 18 lightning strikes. They killed 7 people and injured 16, and the NWS estimated $199.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 75 mph, on September 4, 2001. July has had the most flash floods, 23 of 68. Of the 455 New Jersey cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 215 have had fewer than Belle Mead.

Flood insurance policyholders in Belle Mead's ZIP code 08502 have filed 87 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $2.4 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Irene in 2011: 23 claims (26% of all) and $1.1 million, then Hurricane Ida in 2021 with 18 and Hurricane Floyd in 1999 with 10. 85% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 395 New Jersey cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 193 have fewer than Belle Mead.