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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Flushing, NY

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

47 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Flushing, New York since 1851, 8 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 41 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
8

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
39

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
41

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
0

1 deaths in all

What the records show for Flushing

The strongest storm to pass near Flushing was an unnamed storm in 1938, a Category 3 hurricane with 121 mph winds when its centre passed 48 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1893, whose centre came within 3 miles. The record near Flushing begins with an unnamed storm in 1861; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 29 miles away. The 1890s and the 1900s were the busiest decades, with 5 systems each. Of the 47 systems, 7 have come since 2000. Flushing has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 76% of the 809 New York cities on this site. The highest rating among the 41 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2 or EF2, reached 7 times; the most recent, on August 8, 2007, came within 11 miles. The deadliest, an EF1 on September 16, 2010, killed 1 person. Of the 41, 4 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 16 have come since 2000. August has had the most tornadoes, 11. The most recent tornado was on November 13, 2021. Flushing has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 87% of the 809 New York cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 83 times since 1962, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Flushing has more hail reports within 10 miles than 90% of the 809 New York cities.

Compare Flushing's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Flushing

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Flushing, New York, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2021IdaSep 229 miTropical storm (45 mph)Category 4
2021ElsaJul 949 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
2020IsaiasAug 465 miTropical storm (62 mph)Category 1
2020FayJul 1146 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
2013AndreaJun 849 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
2011IreneAug 286 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
2008HannaSep 715 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
1999FloydSep 1720 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 4
1996BerthaJul 133 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1985GloriaSep 2729 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 4
1985HenriSep 2453 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1976BelleAug 1028 miTropical storm (72 mph)Category 3
1972AgnesJun 2210 miTropical storm (59 mph)Category 1
1971DoriaAug 287 miTropical storm (60 mph)Tropical storm
1968Unnamed 1968 stormSep 1129 miTropical storm (63 mph)Tropical storm
1961Unnamed 1961 stormSep 1529 miTropical storm (63 mph)Tropical storm
1960DonnaSep 1244 miCategory 2 (98 mph)Category 4
1960BrendaJul 3011 miTropical storm (56 mph)Tropical storm
1955DianeAug 1911 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1952AbleSep 143 miTropical storm (55 mph)Category 2
1944Unnamed 1944 stormSep 1561 miCategory 2 (104 mph)Category 5
1938Unnamed 1938 stormSep 2148 miCategory 3 (121 mph)Category 5
1934Unnamed 1934 stormSep 941 miCategory 1 (75 mph)Category 2
1934Unnamed 1934 stormJun 1921 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1924Unnamed 1924 stormSep 307 miTropical storm (68 mph)Category 1
1916Unnamed 1916 stormMay 1745 miTropical storm (55 mph)Tropical storm
1915Unnamed 1915 stormAug 424 miTropical storm (56 mph)Category 1
1908Unnamed 1908 stormMay 3074 miTropical storm (43 mph)Category 1
1904Unnamed 1904 stormSep 1549 miCategory 1 (79 mph)Category 1
1903Unnamed 1903 stormSep 1669 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 2
1902Unnamed 1902 stormJun 1647 miTropical storm (43 mph)Tropical storm
1900Unnamed 1900 stormOct 1422 miTropical storm (39 mph)Tropical storm
1899Unnamed 1899 stormNov 160 miTropical storm (54 mph)Category 2
1897Unnamed 1897 stormSep 2448 miTropical storm (63 mph)Tropical storm
1894Unnamed 1894 stormOct 1042 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 3
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2956 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 243 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 3
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 1127 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1888Unnamed 1888 stormAug 2238 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 3
1882Unnamed 1882 stormSep 2440 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1877Unnamed 1877 stormOct 543 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1874Unnamed 1874 stormSep 293 miTropical storm (68 mph)Category 1
1872Unnamed 1872 stormOct 269 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1866Unnamed 1866 stormOct 3014 miTropical storm (60 mph)Tropical storm
1863Unnamed 1863 stormSep 1921 miTropical storm (49 mph)Tropical storm
1861Unnamed 1861 stormNov 362 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 1
1861Unnamed 1861 stormSep 288 miTropical storm (62 mph)Category 1

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

By decade

  • 2020s2
  • 2010s8
  • 2000s6
  • 1990s7
  • 1980s4
  • 1970s13
  • 1960s1
Strongest tornadoes near Flushing, New York
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Aug 8, 2007EF211 mi3.92 mi0 / 9
Jul 12, 2006F222 mi10.1 mi0 / 6
Sep 7, 1998F210 mi0.2 mi0 / 6
Sep 18, 1973F218 mi1.9 mi0 / 0
Sep 27, 1970F217 mi0.5 mi0 / 0
Jul 15, 1970F213 mi2 mi0 / 0
Aug 7, 1962F218 mi2.5 mi0 / 0
Sep 16, 2010EF1in town4 mi1 / 1
Oct 7, 2013EF119 mi1.25 mi0 / 0
Sep 8, 2012EF19 mi4.74 mi0 / 0
Jul 25, 2010EF111 mi0.87 mi0 / 7
Aug 8, 2007EF116 mi1.95 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 41, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Flushing

The Storm Prediction Center has 83 hail reports within 10 miles of Flushing since 1962, made on 44 separate days. Of these, 44 were 1 inch across or larger, and 5 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3 inches (tea cup size), fell on August 1, 2011. The most recent report is from July 21, 2022. August has the most reports, 36.

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

Weather by month in Flushing

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is New York Laguardia Airport, NY, 4 miles northwest of Flushing at 11 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 72°F; January is the coolest, at 40°F and 29°F. August is the wettest at 4.4 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.9 inches; the year adds up to 45.4 inches over 75 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 52% of the year's precipitation (23.6 of 45.4 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 47 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (21); a normal September there has highs of 77°F and 3.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 22 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 62 nights a year. Snowfall averages 29.8 inches a year, most of it in February. That 45.4 inches is more than at 85 of the 137 New York stations used on this site (62%). Hollis, 4 miles southeast, has its own station (New York Jfk International Airport, NY): 43.5 inches a year, 1.9 less than here, and a July average high of 84°F against 86°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Kings Point, NY, 5 miles northeast, 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, 5 miles from Flushing, 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.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at New York Laguardia Airport, NY
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Snow inWater °F
Jan40293.368.640
Feb43302.969.838
Mar50364.075.442
Apr61463.960.448
May72563.670.057
Jun81664.070.065
Jul86724.360.071
Aug85714.460.074
Sep77643.960.072
Oct66533.850.163
Nov55433.260.354
Dec45354.175.244
Year635045.47529.856

Averages for 1991–2020 at New York Laguardia Airport, NY (11 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Kings Point, NY, 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.

New York weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Flushing

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 574 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Flushing: 276 thunderstorm wind reports, 241 flash floods, 32 floods, 20 lightning strikes and 5 heavy rain events. They killed 22 people and injured 60, and the NWS estimated $130.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 125 mph, on September 16, 2010. July has had the most flash floods, 63 of 241. Of the 798 New York cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 778 have had fewer than Flushing.

  • September 1, 2021: flash flood 5 miles from the centre of Flushing — 3 killed.

  • September 1, 2021: flash flood in Flushing — 3 killed.

    NWS: “Two women and a man died when their basement apartment flooded on Peck Avenue near Kissena Boulevard in Flushing, Queens.”

  • July 18, 1997: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Flushing — 2 killed, 16 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 Flushing's 4 ZIP codes have filed 305 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $5.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Ida in 2021: 48 claims (16% of all) and $2.2 million, then Flooding in 1996 with 19 and Not a named storm in 1979 with 18. 44% 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, 466 have fewer than Flushing.

Flood insurance claims in Flushing by named event
EventClaimsPaid
Hurricane Ida202148$2.2 million
Flooding199619$564,000
Not a named storm197918$34,000
Hurricane Sandy201217$1.1 million
Hurricane Irene201111$27,000

Queens County, which includes Flushing, has been named in 25 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 15 of them major disasters (by incident: 9 hurricanes, 3 floods, 3 severe storms, 3 snowstorms). The latest major disaster declaration was Remnants of Hurricane Ida, on September 5, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Queens County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for inland flooding, coastal flooding, strong wind and heat waves; Relatively High for hurricanes, tornadoes, hail and lightning. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $377.1 million a year, the highest of 62 New York counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $185.3 million (49%), 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 Flushing