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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Clark, NJ

Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.

Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated

44 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Clark, New Jersey since 1851, 8 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 55 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 2 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
8

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
36

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
55

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
2

no recorded deaths

What the records show for Clark

The strongest storm to pass near Clark was an unnamed storm in 1938, a Category 3 hurricane with 121 mph winds when its centre passed 74 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1893, whose centre came within 21 miles. The record near Clark begins with an unnamed storm in 1861; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 29 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1890s, with 5 systems, 2 of them at hurricane strength. Of the 44 systems, 7 have come since 2000. Clark has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 53% of the 455 New Jersey cities on this site. The highest rating among the 55 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 2 times; the most recent, on September 26, 1977, came within 15 miles. Of the 55, 12 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 19 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 14. The most recent tornado was on June 26, 2023. Clark has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 50% of the 455 New Jersey cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 81 times since 1967, with stones up to 1.75 inches (golf ball size). Clark has more hail reports within 10 miles than 66% of the 455 New Jersey cities.

Compare Clark's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Clark

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Clark, New Jersey, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2021IdaSep 229 miTropical storm (44 mph)Category 4
2021ElsaJul 961 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
2020IsaiasAug 446 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 1
2020FayJul 1129 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
2013AndreaJun 861 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
2011IreneAug 2816 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
2008HannaSep 725 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
1999FloydSep 1638 miTropical storm (59 mph)Category 4
1996BerthaJul 1314 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1985GloriaSep 2749 miCategory 1 (87 mph)Category 4
1985HenriSep 2471 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1976BelleAug 1052 miCategory 1 (75 mph)Category 3
1972AgnesJun 2237 miTropical storm (59 mph)Category 1
1971DoriaAug 2813 miTropical storm (61 mph)Tropical storm
1968Unnamed 1968 stormSep 1152 miTropical storm (62 mph)Tropical storm
1961Unnamed 1961 stormSep 1545 miTropical storm (62 mph)Tropical storm
1960DonnaSep 1263 miCategory 2 (98 mph)Category 4
1960BrendaJul 3027 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1955DianeAug 197 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1952AbleSep 133 miTropical storm (56 mph)Category 2
1938Unnamed 1938 stormSep 2174 miCategory 3 (121 mph)Category 5
1934Unnamed 1934 stormSep 863 miCategory 1 (75 mph)Category 2
1934Unnamed 1934 stormJun 1923 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1924Unnamed 1924 stormSep 3013 miTropical storm (68 mph)Category 1
1916Unnamed 1916 stormMay 1760 miTropical storm (55 mph)Tropical storm
1915Unnamed 1915 stormAug 416 miTropical storm (56 mph)Category 1
1904Unnamed 1904 stormSep 1559 miCategory 1 (78 mph)Category 1
1903Unnamed 1903 stormSep 1642 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 2
1902Unnamed 1902 stormJun 1662 miTropical storm (44 mph)Tropical storm
1900Unnamed 1900 stormOct 1439 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1899Unnamed 1899 stormNov 144 miTropical storm (55 mph)Category 2
1897Unnamed 1897 stormSep 2465 miTropical storm (63 mph)Tropical storm
1894Unnamed 1894 stormOct 1059 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 3
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2943 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2421 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 3
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 1139 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1888Unnamed 1888 stormAug 2238 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 3
1882Unnamed 1882 stormSep 2452 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1877Unnamed 1877 stormOct 552 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1874Unnamed 1874 stormSep 2919 miTropical storm (67 mph)Category 1
1872Unnamed 1872 stormOct 2621 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1866Unnamed 1866 stormOct 3011 miTropical storm (60 mph)Tropical storm
1863Unnamed 1863 stormSep 19overheadTropical storm (51 mph)Tropical storm
1861Unnamed 1861 stormSep 2825 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 1

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Clark: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.

Tornadoes within 25 miles of Clark

By decade

  • 2020s5
  • 2010s8
  • 2000s6
  • 1990s12
  • 1980s11
  • 1970s8(2 EF3+)
  • 1960s2
  • 1950s3
Strongest tornadoes near Clark, New Jersey
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Sep 26, 1977F315 mi5.9 mi0 / 0
May 28, 1973F316 mi0.4 mi0 / 0
Aug 8, 2007EF215 mi3.92 mi0 / 9
May 27, 2001F217 mi1.5 mi0 / 0
Aug 7, 1962F225 mi2.5 mi0 / 0
Jun 26, 2023EF116 mi1.38 mi0 / 0
Oct 31, 2019EF111 mi4.87 mi0 / 0
Jul 25, 2016EF120 mi3.49 mi0 / 0
Oct 7, 2013EF124 mi1.25 mi0 / 0
Sep 8, 2012EF120 mi4.74 mi0 / 0
Aug 8, 2007EF111 mi1.95 mi0 / 0
Sep 7, 1998F1in town0.2 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 55, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Clark

The Storm Prediction Center has 81 hail reports within 10 miles of Clark since 1967, made on 54 separate days. Of these, 41 were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest size, 1.75 inches (golf ball size), was reported on 7 days, most recently May 28, 2019. The most recent report is from July 3, 2025. July has the most reports, 31.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.

Weather by month in Clark

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Cranford, NJ, 3 miles north of Clark at 80 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 40°F and 25°F. July is the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 50.4 inches over 81 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 52% of the year's precipitation (26.2 of 50.4 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 44 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (20); a normal September there has highs of 77°F and 4.3 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 28 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 111 nights a year. Snowfall averages 26.3 inches a year, most of it in February. That 50.4 inches is more than at 35 of the 51 New Jersey stations used on this site (69%). Colonia, 2 miles south, has its own station (Plainfield, NJ): 48.7 inches a year, 1.7 less than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 86°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station The Battery, NY, 16 miles east, averaged 74°F in August and 39°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Bergen Point tide gauge, 9 miles from Clark, 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.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Cranford, NJ
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Snow inWater °F
Jan40253.777.041
Feb43273.368.239
Mar51334.475.042
Apr63434.170.349
May72534.280.058
Jun81624.570.066
Jul86685.370.073
Aug84664.170.074
Sep77594.360.072
Oct66474.460.065
Nov55383.660.156
Dec45314.575.746
Year634650.48126.357

Averages for 1991–2020 at Cranford, NJ (80 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station The Battery, NY, from NOAA Tides & Currents. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.

New Jersey weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Clark

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 716 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Clark: 386 thunderstorm wind reports, 226 flash floods, 65 floods, 31 lightning strikes and 8 heavy rain events. They killed 16 people and injured 17, and the NWS estimated $89.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 92 mph, on July 1, 2013. July has had the most flash floods, 90 of 226. Of the 455 New Jersey cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 349 have had fewer than Clark.

  • September 1, 2021: flash flood 6 miles from the centre of Clark — 4 killed.

  • July 3, 2025: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Clark — 2 killed, $15,000 damage.

  • September 1, 2021: flash flood 8 miles from the centre of Clark — 2 killed.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.

Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings

Flood insurance policyholders in Clark's ZIP code 07066 have filed 142 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $2.7 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Ida in 2021: 31 claims (22% of all) and $1.3 million, then Hurricane Irene in 2011 with 27 and 2025 July NYC Metro Area Flooding in 2025 with 11. 73% 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, 240 have fewer than Clark.

Flood insurance claims in Clark by named event
EventClaimsPaid
Hurricane Ida202131$1.3 million
Hurricane Irene201127$504,000
2025 July NYC Metro Area Flooding202511$512,000

Union County, which includes Clark, has been named in 30 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 18 of them major disasters (by incident: 9 hurricanes, 5 floods, 5 severe storms, 4 snowstorms). The latest major disaster declaration was Remnants of Hurricane Ida, on September 5, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Union County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for strong wind and lightning; Relatively High for inland flooding; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes, tornadoes, coastal flooding and heat waves; Very Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $163.1 million a year, the 10th highest of 21 New Jersey counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $116.7 million (72%), is from inland flooding.

Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.

Cities near Clark