Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit East Rockaway, NY

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Oceanside, NY, 2 miles east of East Rockaway at 12 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 82°F and low of 67°F; January is the coolest, at 39°F and 26°F. March and June are the wettest at 4.6 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.0 inches; the year adds up to 48.8 inches over 82 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 51% of the year's precipitation (24.8 of 48.8 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 52 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (22); a normal September there has highs of 75°F and 3.8 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 10 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 89 nights a year. Snowfall averages 25.5 inches a year, most of it in February. That 48.8 inches is more than at 115 of the 137 New York stations used on this site (84%). Woodmere, 3 miles west, has its own station (New York Jfk International Airport, NY): 43.5 inches a year, 5.3 less than here, and a July average high of 84°F against 82°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Kings Point, NY, 13 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, 13 miles from East Rockaway, 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 308 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of East Rockaway: 136 thunderstorm wind reports, 135 flash floods, 18 lightning strikes, 17 floods and 2 heavy rain events. They killed 4 people and injured 32, and the NWS estimated $14.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 125 mph, on September 16, 2010. August has had the most flash floods, 42 of 135. Of the 798 New York cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 692 have had fewer than East Rockaway.

Flood insurance policyholders in East Rockaway's ZIP code 11518 have filed 2,206 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $89.8 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Sandy in 2012: 1,072 claims (49% of all) and $77.8 million, then Hurricane Irene in 2011 with 383 and December Storm - Nor'easter in 1992 with 179. 90% 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, 532 have fewer than East Rockaway.