Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Fall River, MA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Tiverton, RI, 6 miles southwest of Fall River at 90 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 65°F; January is the coolest, at 39°F and 24°F. March is the wettest at 5.6 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 3.0 inches; the year adds up to 49.4 inches over 83 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 47% of the year's precipitation (23.0 of 49.4 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 56 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (19); a normal September there has highs of 77°F and 3.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 13 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 105 nights a year. Snowfall averages 38.1 inches a year, most of it in February. That 49.4 inches is more than at 42 of the 65 Massachusetts stations used on this site (65%). Assonet, 8 miles northeast, has its own station (Taunton Municipal Airport, MA): 47.7 inches a year, 1.7 less than here, and a July average high of 84°F against 85°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Fall River, MA, under a mile northwest, averaged 75°F in July and 38°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Providence tide gauge, 15 miles from Fall River, has risen 1.04 ± 0.05 inches per decade from 1938 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 10.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 58 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 166 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Fall River: 58 floods, 55 thunderstorm wind reports, 32 flash floods and 21 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 3, and the NWS estimated $9.6 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 76 mph, on February 25, 2016. July has had the most flash floods, 13 of 32. Of the 339 Massachusetts cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 272 have had fewer than Fall River.

Flood insurance policyholders in Fall River's 3 ZIP codes have filed 24 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $119,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The year with the most claims was 1991, with 11. 63% 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, 72 have fewer than Fall River.