Skip to content

NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit East Sandwich, MA

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

68 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of East Sandwich, Massachusetts since 1851, 18 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Wanda in 2021. Since 1950, 14 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
18

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
50

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
14

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
0

no recorded deaths

What the records show for East Sandwich

The strongest storm to pass near East Sandwich was Gerda in 1969, a Category 3 hurricane with 116 mph winds when its centre passed 73 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1869, whose centre came within 2 miles. The record near East Sandwich begins with an unnamed storm in 1851; the most recent system was Wanda in 2021, a tropical storm 58 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1880s, with 11 systems, 3 of them at hurricane strength. Of the 68 systems, 9 have come since 2000. East Sandwich has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 97% of the 346 Massachusetts cities on this site. The highest rating among the 14 tornadoes within 25 miles is F1 or EF1, reached 7 times; the most recent, on August 8, 2023, came within 21 miles. Of the 14, one had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 8 have come since 2000. August has had the most tornadoes, 6. Of the 346 Massachusetts cities, 91% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than East Sandwich. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 23 times since 1962, with stones up to 1.5 inches (ping pong ball size). Of the 346 Massachusetts cities, 87% have more hail reports within 10 miles than East Sandwich.

Compare East Sandwich's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near East Sandwich

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of East Sandwich, Massachusetts, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2021WandaOct 2758 miTropical storm (69 mph)Tropical storm
2021IdaSep 234 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 4
2021HenriAug 2270 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 1
2021ElsaJul 933 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
2013AndreaJun 830 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
2008HannaSep 746 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
2007BarryJun 439 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
2006BerylJul 2134 miTropical storm (52 mph)Tropical storm
2004HermineAug 3129 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1996JosephineOct 926 miTropical storm (52 mph)Tropical storm
1996BerthaJul 1470 miTropical storm (68 mph)Category 3
1991BobAug 1932 miCategory 1 (91 mph)Category 3
1988AlbertoAug 766 miTropical storm (39 mph)Tropical storm
1973AlfaAug 159 miTropical storm (39 mph)Tropical storm
1972CarrieSep 355 miTropical storm (63 mph)Tropical storm
1969GerdaSep 973 miCategory 3 (116 mph)Category 3
1967Unnamed 1967 stormJun 2172 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1966AlmaJun 1411 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 3
1962AlmaAug 2974 miCategory 1 (81 mph)Category 1
1961EstherSep 2612 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 5
1960DonnaSep 1271 miCategory 1 (77 mph)Category 4
1959CindyJul 119 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
1955DianeAug 1953 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1954EdnaSep 117 miCategory 2 (109 mph)Category 3
1954CarolAug 3171 miCategory 2 (106 mph)Category 3
1952Unnamed 1952 stormFeb 444 miTropical storm (63 mph)Tropical storm
1944Unnamed 1944 stormOct 2145 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 4
1944Unnamed 1944 stormSep 1534 miCategory 1 (75 mph)Category 5
1936Unnamed 1936 stormSep 1970 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 3
1934Unnamed 1934 stormJun 207 miTropical storm (47 mph)Category 2
1932Unnamed 1932 stormSep 1758 miCategory 1 (75 mph)Category 1
1924Unnamed 1924 stormAug 2644 miCategory 1 (91 mph)Category 3
1923Unnamed 1923 stormOct 1915 miTropical storm (55 mph)Tropical storm
1917Unnamed 1917 stormAug 1057 miTropical storm (66 mph)Tropical storm
1916Unnamed 1916 stormJul 2129 miTropical storm (64 mph)Category 2
1916Unnamed 1916 stormMay 1768 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1915Unnamed 1915 stormAug 573 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1913Unnamed 1913 stormOct 258 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
1908Unnamed 1908 stormMay 3160 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1907Unnamed 1907 stormJun 3014 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1904Unnamed 1904 stormSep 1510 miCategory 1 (85 mph)Category 1
1902Unnamed 1902 stormJun 1750 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1897Unnamed 1897 stormSep 2463 miTropical storm (47 mph)Tropical storm
1896Unnamed 1896 stormSep 1012 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1894Unnamed 1894 stormOct 175 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 3
1891Unnamed 1891 stormOct 1469 miTropical storm (62 mph)Tropical storm
1889Unnamed 1889 stormSep 259 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 2
1888Unnamed 1888 stormNov 2768 miCategory 1 (92 mph)Category 2
1888Unnamed 1888 stormOct 1248 miTropical storm (44 mph)Category 2
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 2629 miCategory 1 (81 mph)Category 1
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 1244 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1888Unnamed 1888 stormAug 2240 miTropical storm (49 mph)Category 3
1887Unnamed 1887 stormOct 2143 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
1885Unnamed 1885 stormSep 2358 miCategory 1 (92 mph)Category 1
1882Unnamed 1882 stormSep 1269 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
1881Unnamed 1881 stormSep 1161 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1880Unnamed 1880 stormOct 2331 miTropical storm (69 mph)Tropical storm
1879Unnamed 1879 stormAug 195 miCategory 1 (78 mph)Category 3
1878Unnamed 1878 stormOct 2469 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1877Unnamed 1877 stormOct 57 miTropical storm (61 mph)Category 3
1875Unnamed 1875 stormOct 1561 miTropical storm (62 mph)Category 1
1872Unnamed 1872 stormOct 2720 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1869Unnamed 1869 stormOct 42 miCategory 2 (104 mph)Category 2
1869Unnamed 1869 stormSep 855 miCategory 2 (106 mph)Category 3
1861Unnamed 1861 stormNov 357 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
1858Unnamed 1858 stormSep 1668 miCategory 1 (77 mph)Category 2
1856Unnamed 1856 stormAug 2175 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1851Unnamed 1851 stormOct 1961 miTropical storm (48 mph)Tropical storm

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

By decade

  • 2020s3
  • 2010s5
  • 1990s1
  • 1970s2
  • 1960s3
Strongest tornadoes near East Sandwich, Massachusetts
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Aug 8, 2023EF121 mi0.9 mi0 / 0
Jul 23, 2019EF119 mi2.77 mi0 / 0
Jul 23, 2019EF112 mi0.25 mi0 / 0
Jul 23, 2019EF110 mi5.52 mi0 / 0
Aug 22, 1977F19 mi0.1 mi0 / 2
Aug 9, 1968F19 mi0.1 mi0 / 0
Aug 9, 1968F124 mi1 mi0 / 0
Aug 8, 2023EF05 mi1.2 mi0 / 0
Sep 1, 2021EF012 mi0.1 mi0 / 0
Oct 29, 2018EF018 mi0.1 mi0 / 0
Jul 24, 2012EF016 mi0.03 mi0 / 0
Aug 20, 1997F021 mi0.1 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 14, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in East Sandwich

The Storm Prediction Center has 23 hail reports within 10 miles of East Sandwich since 1962, made on 16 separate days. Of these, 7 were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest size, 1.5 inches (ping pong ball size), was reported on 3 days, most recently July 2, 2009. The most recent report is from August 26, 2024. August has the most reports, 9.

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

Weather by month in East Sandwich

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Hyannis, MA, 8 miles southeast of East Sandwich at 60 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 78°F and low of 64°F; January is the coolest, at 39°F and 22°F. March is the wettest at 4.8 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 45.7 inches over 79 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 47% of the year's precipitation (21.5 of 45.7 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 68 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (21); a normal September there has highs of 71°F and 3.8 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 2 days a year, almost all from July. Lows fall below freezing on about 101 nights a year. Snowfall averages 21.5 inches a year, most of it in January. That 45.7 inches is more than at 15 of the 65 Massachusetts stations used on this site (23%). Sandwich, 3 miles west, has its own station (E Wareham, MA): 51.3 inches a year, 5.6 more than here, and a July average high of 81°F against 78°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Woods Hole, MA, 19 miles southwest, averaged 74°F in August and 36°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Woods Hole tide gauge, 19 miles from East Sandwich, has risen 1.24 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1932 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 12.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 73 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Hyannis, MA
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Snow inWater °F
Jan39223.779.539
Feb40243.676.336
Mar44304.873.640
Apr54384.070.047
May63483.470.056
Jun72573.360.066
Jul78642.840.073
Aug77633.260.074
Sep71573.850.071
Oct61464.370.063
Nov52374.170.054
Dec44294.792.145
Year584345.77921.555

Averages for 1991–2020 at Hyannis, MA (60 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Woods Hole, MA, 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.

Massachusetts weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near East Sandwich

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 68 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of East Sandwich: 38 thunderstorm wind reports, 12 floods, 8 flash floods, 8 lightning strikes and 2 heavy rain events. They killed 0 people and injured 3, and the NWS estimated $356,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 75 mph, on July 23, 2019. Of the 339 Massachusetts cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 81 have had fewer than East Sandwich.

  • August 2, 2008: thunderstorm wind 10 miles from the centre of East Sandwich — 1 injured, $500 damage.

  • July 2, 2009: lightning strike 2 miles from the centre of East Sandwich — 1 injured.

    NWS: “A 58 year old man was injured when lightning struck the ground near his home in East Sandwich.”

  • July 1, 2016: lightning strike 4 miles from the centre of East Sandwich — 1 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 East Sandwich's ZIP code 02537 have filed 144 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1983, and were paid $2.2 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from The "Halloween" Storm in 1991: 36 claims (25% of all) and $561,000, then December Storm - Nor'easter in 1992 with 13 and Flooding in 1987 with 10. 43% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 229 Massachusetts cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 179 have fewer than East Sandwich.

Flood insurance claims in East Sandwich by named event
EventClaimsPaid
The "Halloween" Storm199136$561,000
December Storm - Nor'easter199213$140,000
Flooding198710$96,000

Barnstable County, which includes East Sandwich, has been named in 24 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1972, 14 of them major disasters (by incident: 9 hurricanes, 5 snowstorms, 4 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on March 27, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Barnstable County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for coastal flooding; Relatively High for hurricanes and lightning; Relatively Moderate for inland flooding and strong wind; Relatively Low for tornadoes, hail and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $82.3 million a year, the 9th highest of 14 Massachusetts counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $44.2 million (54%), 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 East Sandwich