Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Bristol, RI

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Tiverton, RI, 5 miles southeast of Bristol at 90 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 65°F; January is the coolest, at 39°F and 24°F. March is the wettest at 5.6 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 3.0 inches; the year adds up to 49.4 inches over 83 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 47% of the year's precipitation (23.0 of 49.4 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 55 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (19); a normal September there has highs of 77°F and 3.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 13 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 105 nights a year. Snowfall averages 38.1 inches a year, most of it in February. That 49.4 inches is more than at 4 of the 10 Rhode Island stations used on this site (40%). Barrington, 5 miles northwest, has its own station (Providence T F Green Airport, RI): 47.7 inches a year, 1.7 less than here, and a July average high of 84°F against 85°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Conimicut Light, RI, 5 miles northwest, averaged 76°F in July and 38°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Providence tide gauge, 11 miles from Bristol, has risen 1.04 ± 0.05 inches per decade from 1938 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 10.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 58 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 195 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Bristol: 72 thunderstorm wind reports, 63 floods, 40 flash floods and 20 lightning strikes. They killed 2 people and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $39.6 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on June 22, 1997. July has had the most flash floods, 16 of 40. Of the 49 Rhode Island cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 32 have had fewer than Bristol.

Flood insurance policyholders in Bristol's ZIP code 02809 have filed 210 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $1.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from March 2010 Nor'easter in 2010: 70 claims (33% of all) and $568,000, then Hurricane Bob in 1991 with 33. 59% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 38 Rhode Island cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 27 have fewer than Bristol.