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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Dayton, 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

45 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Dayton, New Jersey since 1851, 8 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 77 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 3 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
8

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
37

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
77

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
3

no recorded deaths

What the records show for Dayton

The strongest storm to pass near Dayton was Donna in 1960, a Category 2 hurricane with 98 mph winds when its centre passed 66 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1893, whose centre came within 32 miles. The record near Dayton begins with an unnamed storm in 1861; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 17 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1890s, with 5 systems, 2 of them at hurricane strength. Of the 45 systems, 8 have come since 2000. Dayton has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 53% of the 455 New Jersey cities on this site. The highest rating among the 77 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 3 times; the most recent, on October 18, 1990, came within 15 miles. Of the 77, 2 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 32 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 16. The most recent tornado was on June 14, 2024. Dayton has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 90% of the 455 New Jersey cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 56 times since 1978, with stones up to 1.75 inches (golf ball size). Of the 455 New Jersey cities, 56% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Dayton.

Compare Dayton's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Dayton

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Dayton, New Jersey, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2021IdaSep 217 miTropical storm (43 mph)Category 4
2021ElsaJul 957 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
2020IsaiasAug 442 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 1
2020FayJul 1112 miTropical storm (39 mph)Tropical storm
2013AndreaJun 858 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
2012SandyOct 3057 miCategory 1 (77 mph)Category 3
2011IreneAug 2822 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
2008HannaSep 720 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
1999FloydSep 1640 miTropical storm (60 mph)Category 4
1996BerthaJul 139 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1985GloriaSep 2753 miCategory 1 (89 mph)Category 4
1985HenriSep 2474 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1976BelleAug 1059 miCategory 1 (77 mph)Category 3
1972AgnesJun 2253 miTropical storm (60 mph)Category 1
1971DoriaAug 2815 miTropical storm (62 mph)Tropical storm
1968Unnamed 1968 stormSep 1160 miTropical storm (61 mph)Tropical storm
1961Unnamed 1961 stormSep 1545 miTropical storm (62 mph)Tropical storm
1960DonnaSep 1266 miCategory 2 (98 mph)Category 4
1960BrendaJul 3027 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1955DianeAug 198 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1952AbleSep 139 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1944Unnamed 1944 stormAug 374 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1934Unnamed 1934 stormSep 869 miCategory 1 (76 mph)Category 2
1934Unnamed 1934 stormJun 1913 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1924Unnamed 1924 stormSep 3016 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 1
1916Unnamed 1916 stormMay 1758 miTropical storm (54 mph)Tropical storm
1915Unnamed 1915 stormAug 423 miTropical storm (55 mph)Category 1
1904Unnamed 1904 stormSep 1552 miCategory 1 (77 mph)Category 1
1903Unnamed 1903 stormSep 1626 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 2
1902Unnamed 1902 stormJun 1660 miTropical storm (44 mph)Tropical storm
1900Unnamed 1900 stormOct 1443 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1899Unnamed 1899 stormNov 145 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 2948 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2432 miCategory 1 (87 mph)Category 3
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 1135 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1888Unnamed 1888 stormAug 2250 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 3
1882Unnamed 1882 stormSep 2448 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1877Unnamed 1877 stormOct 546 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1874Unnamed 1874 stormSep 2918 miTropical storm (66 mph)Category 1
1872Unnamed 1872 stormOct 2619 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1866Unnamed 1866 stormOct 3020 miTropical storm (61 mph)Tropical storm
1863Unnamed 1863 stormSep 192 miTropical storm (52 mph)Tropical storm
1861Unnamed 1861 stormSep 2825 miTropical storm (64 mph)Category 1

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Dayton: 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 Dayton

By decade

  • 2020s16
  • 2010s9
  • 2000s7
  • 1990s18(1 EF3+)
  • 1980s12
  • 1970s4(1 EF3+)
  • 1960s7(1 EF3+)
  • 1950s4
Strongest tornadoes near Dayton, New Jersey
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Oct 18, 1990F315 mi0.5 mi0 / 8
Sep 26, 1977F3in town5.9 mi0 / 0
Jun 24, 1960F39 mi12.9 mi0 / 0
Apr 1, 2023EF220 mi1.59 mi0 / 0
Apr 1, 2023EF216 mi2.1 mi0 / 0
Feb 21, 2023EF28 mi5.8 mi0 / 0
Jul 29, 2021EF218 mi6.31 mi0 / 0
May 27, 2001F210 mi1.5 mi0 / 0
Aug 17, 1988F215 mi4.5 mi0 / 0
Feb 2, 1973F224 mi0.3 mi0 / 0
May 24, 1962F29 mi16.6 mi0 / 1
Jun 13, 1958F215 mi0.1 mi0 / 1

The strongest 12 of 77, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Dayton

The Storm Prediction Center has 56 hail reports within 10 miles of Dayton since 1978, made on 40 separate days. Of these, 23 were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest size, 1.75 inches (golf ball size), was reported on 4 days, most recently September 9, 2023. The most recent report is from September 9, 2023. July has the most reports, 16.

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

Weather by month in Dayton

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Hightstown 2 W, NJ, 8 miles south of Dayton at 100 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 63°F; January is the coolest, at 41°F and 21°F. July is the wettest at 4.8 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.6 inches; the year adds up to 47.6 inches over 80 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (25.2 of 47.6 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 45 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (19); a normal September there has highs of 78°F and 4.2 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 26 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 114 nights a year. Snowfall averages 23.7 inches a year, most of it in February. That 47.6 inches is more than at 21 of the 51 New Jersey stations used on this site (41%). Kendall Park, 4 miles northwest, has its own station (New Brunswick 3 SE, NJ): 49.5 inches a year, 1.9 more than here, and the same July average high, 87°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Newbold, PA, 21 miles southwest, averaged 80°F in July and 37°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July. Sea level at the Bergen Point tide gauge, 27 miles from Dayton, 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 Hightstown 2 W, NJ
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Snow inWater °F
Jan41213.575.837
Feb43232.668.038
Mar51304.374.645
Apr63393.770.654
May73484.180.064
Jun82584.680.073
Jul87634.870.080
Aug85614.370.078
Sep78544.260.072
Oct66424.060.061
Nov55333.360.349
Dec46274.274.439
Year644247.68023.758

Averages for 1991–2020 at Hightstown 2 W, NJ (100 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Newbold, PA, 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 Dayton

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 392 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Dayton: 207 thunderstorm wind reports, 74 flash floods, 58 floods, 32 heavy rain events and 21 lightning strikes. They killed 0 people and injured 11, and the NWS estimated $24.7 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 75 mph, on September 4, 2001. August has had the most flash floods, 31 of 74. Of the 455 New Jersey cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 223 have had fewer than Dayton.

  • June 22, 1996: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Dayton — 3 injured.

  • July 18, 1997: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Dayton — 2 injured.

  • June 24, 2011: lightning strike 5 miles from the centre of Dayton — 2 injured.

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 Dayton's ZIP code 08810 have filed 16 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $67,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 69% 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, 36 have fewer than Dayton.

Middlesex County, which includes Dayton, has been named in 30 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 19 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 Middlesex County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for strong wind; Relatively High for tornadoes, inland flooding and coastal flooding; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes, lightning and heat waves; Relatively Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $282.4 million a year, the 2nd highest of 21 New Jersey counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $196.8 million (70%), 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 Dayton