Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Durham, NH

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Durham, NH, 1 mile northeast of Durham at 75 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 83°F and low of 59°F; January is the coolest, at 33°F and 14°F. October is the wettest at 4.7 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 2.7 inches; the year adds up to 45.3 inches over 79 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (24.4 of 45.3 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 37 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (15); a normal September there has highs of 73°F and 4.0 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 15 days a year, almost all from May to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 151 nights a year. Snowfall averages 38.9 inches a year, most of it in January. That 45.3 inches is more than at 17 of the 39 New Hampshire stations used on this site (44%). Lee, 3 miles southwest, has its own station (Durham 2 SSW, NH): 47.2 inches a year, 1.9 more than here, and a July average high of 81°F against 83°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Seavey Island, ME, 12 miles east, averaged 64°F in August and 37°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Seavey Island tide gauge, 12 miles from Durham, has risen 0.87 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1926 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 8.7 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 48 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 102 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Durham: 88 thunderstorm wind reports, 8 floods, 4 flash floods and 2 lightning strikes. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $2.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 71 mph, on July 18, 1997.

Flood insurance policyholders in Durham's ZIP code 03824 have filed 25 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $408,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 28% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 60 New Hampshire cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 25 have fewer than Durham.