Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit East Orange, NJ

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Harrison, NJ, 3 miles east of East Orange at 24 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 69°F; January is the coolest, at 39°F and 25°F. June is the wettest at 4.9 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 50.7 inches over 79 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 52% of the year's precipitation (26.3 of 50.7 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 78°F and 4.3 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 31 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 83 nights a year. Snowfall averages 28.2 inches a year, most of it in February. That 50.7 inches is more than at 41 of the 51 New Jersey stations used on this site (80%). South Orange, 3 miles southwest, has its own station (Canoe Brook, NJ): 50.4 inches a year, 0.3 less than here, and a July average high of 86°F against 87°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station The Battery, NY, 11 miles southeast, 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 East Orange, 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.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 840 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of East Orange: 370 thunderstorm wind reports, 353 flash floods, 79 floods, 36 lightning strikes and 2 heavy rain events. They killed 21 people and injured 38, and the NWS estimated $28.8 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 104 mph, on June 10, 2008. July has had the most flash floods, 111 of 353. Of the 455 New Jersey cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 412 have had fewer than East Orange.

Flood insurance policyholders in East Orange's 2 ZIP codes have filed 81 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $988,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Ida in 2021: 14 claims (17% of all) and $517,000. 46% 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, 187 have fewer than East Orange.