Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Copiague, NY

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Farmingdale Airport, NY, 4 miles north of Copiague at 81 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 83°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 39°F and 25°F. September is the wettest at 3.7 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.0 inches; the year adds up to 38.5 inches over 69 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 52% of the year's precipitation (19.9 of 38.5 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 54 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (22); a normal September there has highs of 75°F and 3.7 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 9 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 88 nights a year. That 38.5 inches is more than at 31 of the 137 New York stations used on this site (23%). Massapequa Park, 3 miles west, has its own station (Wantagh Cedar Creek, NY): 42.8 inches a year, 4.3 more than here, and a July average high of 85°F against 83°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Kings Point, NY, 21 miles northwest, averaged 74°F in August and 38°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Kings Point tide gauge, 21 miles from Copiague, has risen 1.08 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1931 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 10.8 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 62 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 214 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Copiague: 126 thunderstorm wind reports, 79 flash floods, 5 lightning strikes, 3 floods and 1 heavy rain event. They killed 1 person and injured 15, and the NWS estimated $412,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on June 24, 2010. August has had the most flash floods, 30 of 79. Of the 798 New York cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 610 have had fewer than Copiague.

Flood insurance policyholders in Copiague's ZIP code 11726 have filed 808 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $34.9 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Sandy in 2012: 414 claims (51% of all) and $31.9 million, then Hurricane Irene in 2011 with 68 and December Storm - Nor'easter in 1992 with 67. 85% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 549 New York cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 508 have fewer than Copiague.