Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Canton, MA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Norwood Mem Airport, MA, 3 miles northwest of Canton at 50 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 63°F; January is the coolest, at 40°F and 21°F. October is the wettest at 4.5 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 43.8 inches over 78 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 51% of the year's precipitation (22.5 of 43.8 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 51 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (20); a normal September there has highs of 77°F and 3.8 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 16 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 139 nights a year. That 43.8 inches is more than at 9 of the 65 Massachusetts stations used on this site (14%). East Walpole, 4 miles west, has its own station (Walpole 2, MA): 49.8 inches a year, 6.0 more than here, and a July average high of 83°F against 86°F.

Sea level at the Boston tide gauge, 14 miles from Canton, 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 315 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Canton: 181 thunderstorm wind reports, 69 floods, 36 flash floods and 29 lightning strikes. They killed 0 people and injured 78, and the NWS estimated $38.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 104 mph, on May 21, 1996. July has had the most flash floods, 16 of 36. Of the 339 Massachusetts cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 280 have had fewer than Canton.

Flood insurance policyholders in Canton's ZIP code 02021 have filed 41 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $185,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1998: 10 claims (24% of all) and $63,000. 54% 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, 117 have fewer than Canton.