Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Bethel, CT

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Danbury, CT, 2 miles northwest of Bethel at 405 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 64°F; January is the coolest, at 36°F and 21°F. July and October are the wettest at 5.0 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 53.0 inches over 86 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (28.6 of 53.0 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 48 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (21); a normal September there has highs of 75°F and 4.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 20 days a year, almost all from May to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 126 nights a year. Snowfall averages 49.3 inches a year, most of it in January. That 53.0 inches is more than at 22 of the 27 Connecticut stations used on this site (81%). Redding, 5 miles south, has its own station (Danbury Municipal Airport, CT): 48.1 inches a year, 4.9 less than here, and a July average high of 82°F against 85°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Bridgeport, CT, 18 miles southeast, averaged 76°F in August and 39°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Bridgeport tide gauge, 18 miles from Bethel, has risen 1.35 ± 0.08 inches per decade from 1964 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 13.5 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 81 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 237 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Bethel: 158 thunderstorm wind reports, 46 flash floods, 26 floods and 7 lightning strikes. They killed 2 people and injured 6, and the NWS estimated $1.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on July 18, 2012. September has had the most flash floods, 17 of 46. Of the 186 Connecticut cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 135 have had fewer than Bethel.

Flood insurance policyholders in Bethel's ZIP code 06801 have filed 68 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $674,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Floyd in 1999: 12 claims (18% of all) and $130,000. The year with the most claims was 2011, with 15. 40% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 128 Connecticut cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 71 have fewer than Bethel.