Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Franklin, MA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is West Medway, MA, 3 miles northwest of Franklin at 210 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 61°F; January is the coolest, at 38°F and 17°F. October is the wettest at 5.1 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 50.4 inches over 81 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 50% of the year's precipitation (25.0 of 50.4 inches). September has brought the most of the 52 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (21); a normal September there has highs of 76°F and 4.2 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 17 days a year, almost all from May to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 152 nights a year. Snowfall averages 51.5 inches a year, most of it in January. That 50.4 inches is more than at 51 of the 65 Massachusetts stations used on this site (78%). Norfolk, 4 miles east, has its own station (Walpole 2, MA): 49.8 inches a year, 0.6 less than here, and a July average high of 83°F against 85°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Providence, RI, 20 miles south, averaged 72°F in August and 36°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Providence tide gauge, 20 miles from Franklin, 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 242 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Franklin: 159 thunderstorm wind reports, 48 floods, 21 flash floods and 14 lightning strikes. They killed 0 people and injured 7, and the NWS estimated $61.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on August 10, 2000. September has had the most flash floods, 10 of 21. Of the 339 Massachusetts cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 189 have had fewer than Franklin.

Flood insurance policyholders in Franklin's ZIP code 02038 have filed 33 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $249,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 55% 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, 98 have fewer than Franklin.