NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Fort Kent, ME
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
18 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Fort Kent, Maine since 1851, 1 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Irene in 2011. Since 1950, 9 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 1
- Tropical storms
- 17
- Tornadoes
- 9
- EF3 or stronger
- 0
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
no recorded deaths
What the records show for Fort Kent
The strongest storm to pass near Fort Kent was an unnamed storm in 1900, a Category 1 hurricane with 75 mph winds when its centre passed 49 miles away. The record near Fort Kent begins with an unnamed storm in 1858; the most recent system was Irene in 2011, a tropical storm 6 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1890s, with 3 systems. Of the 18 systems, one has come since 2000. Of the 160 Maine cities on this site, 93% have more hurricanes within 75 miles than Fort Kent. The strongest of the 9 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F2 on August 15, 1958; its path came within 15 miles. Of the 9, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 4 have come since 2000. The most recent tornado was on June 8, 2011. Of the 160 Maine cities, 70% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Fort Kent. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 9 times since 1977, with stones up to 2.5 inches (tennis ball size). Of the 160 Maine cities, 85% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Fort Kent.
Compare Fort Kent's storm record with another city →
Tropical storms and hurricanes near Fort Kent
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | IreneAug 29 | 6 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1985 | GloriaSep 28 | overhead | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1971 | DoriaAug 29 | 1 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1960 | DonnaSep 13 | 13 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1960 | BrendaJul 31 | 24 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1952 | Unnamed 1952 stormFeb 5 | 74 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1949 | Unnamed 1949 stormAug 30 | 32 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1929 | Unnamed 1929 stormOct 4 | 12 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1908 | Unnamed 1908 stormMay 31 | 57 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1900 | Unnamed 1900 stormSep 12 | 49 mi | Category 1 (75 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1894 | Unnamed 1894 stormOct 11 | 23 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 30 | 59 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 25 | 6 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1880 | Unnamed 1880 stormOct 23 | 47 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1874 | Unnamed 1874 stormSep 30 | 75 mi | Tropical storm (66 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1869 | Unnamed 1869 stormOct 5 | 41 mi | Tropical storm (67 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1869 | Unnamed 1869 stormSep 9 | 25 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1858 | Unnamed 1858 stormSep 17 | 12 mi | Tropical storm (53 mph) | Category 2 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Fort Kent: 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 Fort Kent
By decade
- 2010s1
- 2000s3
- 1990s2
- 1970s1
- 1960s1
- 1950s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 15, 1958 | F2 | 15 mi | 17 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 24, 2009 | EF1 | 12 mi | 2.73 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 18, 1994 | F1 | 15 mi | 3.5 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Oct 12, 1971 | F1 | 7 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 29, 1961 | F1 | 13 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 8, 2011 | EF0 | 24 mi | 8.95 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 26, 2009 | EF0 | 24 mi | 0.69 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 15, 2007 | EF0 | 17 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 28, 1997 | F0 | 5 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 9 of 9, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Fort Kent
The Storm Prediction Center has 9 hail reports within 10 miles of Fort Kent since 1977, made on 7 separate days. Of these, 4 were 1 inch across or larger, and one reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.5 inches (tennis ball size), fell on August 4, 2007. The most recent report is from July 10, 2018.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Fort Kent
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Fort Kent, ME, 3 miles northwest of Fort Kent at 610 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 76°F and low of 54°F; January is the coolest, at 19°F and -3°F. July is the wettest at 4.5 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.3 inches; the year adds up to 41.6 inches over 96 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 57% of the year's precipitation (23.8 of 41.6 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 18 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (6); a normal September there has highs of 66°F and 3.7 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 2 days a year. Lows fall below freezing on about 201 nights a year. Snowfall averages 99.3 inches a year, most of it in December. That 41.6 inches is more than at 5 of the 47 Maine stations used on this site (11%). Madawaska, 15 miles northeast, has its own station (Frenchville Aroostook Airport, ME): 33.2 inches a year, 8.4 less than here, and the same July average high, 76°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 19 | -3 | 2.8 | 7 | 20.3 |
| Feb | 23 | -3 | 2.3 | 6 | 21.0 |
| Mar | 33 | 9 | 2.8 | 7 | 19.0 |
| Apr | 46 | 25 | 3.2 | 8 | 6.6 |
| May | 61 | 37 | 3.3 | 9 | 0.1 |
| Jun | 71 | 47 | 4.4 | 9 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 76 | 54 | 4.5 | 10 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 75 | 51 | 3.7 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 66 | 43 | 3.7 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 52 | 32 | 4.3 | 9 | 1.1 |
| Nov | 38 | 22 | 3.2 | 7 | 8.9 |
| Dec | 26 | 8 | 3.4 | 8 | 22.3 |
| Year | 49 | 27 | 41.6 | 96 | 99.3 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Fort Kent, ME (610 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Fort Kent
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 36 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Fort Kent: 25 thunderstorm wind reports, 6 floods and 5 flash floods. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $2.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 85 mph, on June 10, 2008. June has had the most flash floods, 5 of 5. Of the 154 Maine cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 82 have had fewer than Fort Kent.
April 29, 2008: flood 3 miles from the centre of Fort Kent — $727,000 damage.
NWS: “50 inches of rain and the melting of a record snowpack contributed to historic flooding of the Fish River at Fort Kent. The river crested at nearly 3 feet above stage.”
April 30, 2008: flood 4 miles from the centre of Fort Kent — $727,000 damage.
NWS: “50 inches of rain and the melting of a record snowpack led to historic flooding of the Saint John River at Fort Kent. The river crested at an all-time high level which was just over 5 feet above flood stage.”
May 1, 2008: flood 3 miles from the centre of Fort Kent — $727,000 damage.
NWS: “50 inches of rain which fell in late April and the melting of a record snowpack led to historic flooding of the Fish River at Fort Kent. The river crested at nearly 3 feet above flood stage.”
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 Fort Kent's ZIP code 04743 have filed 104 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $1.7 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The year with the most claims was 1979, with 40. 1% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 61 Maine cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 50 have fewer than Fort Kent.
Aroostook County, which includes Fort Kent, has been named in 24 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1970, 13 of them major disasters (by incident: 9 snowstorms, 6 floods, 4 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on April 4, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Aroostook County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for hurricanes, inland flooding and strong wind; Relatively Low for lightning; Very Low for tornadoes, hail and heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $34.8 million a year, the 5th highest of 16 Maine counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $13.6 million (39%), 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 Fort Kent
- Madawaska, ME15 mi
- Van Buren, ME30 mi
- Caribou, ME35 mi
- Mapleton, ME41 mi
- Fort Fairfield, ME45 mi
- Presque Isle, ME45 mi
- Houlton, ME82 mi
- Millinocket, ME108 mi
- Lincoln, ME127 mi
- Milo, ME137 mi
- Guilford, ME141 mi
- Dover Foxcroft, ME142 mi
All Maine cities →All hurricanes since 1851 →Compare Fort Kent with another place →