NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Freehold, NJ
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
51 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Freehold, New Jersey since 1851, 11 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 57 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 2 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 11
- Tropical storms
- 40
- Tornadoes
- 57
- EF3 or stronger
- 2
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
no recorded deaths
What the records show for Freehold
The strongest storm to pass near Freehold was an unnamed storm in 1938, a Category 3 hurricane with 121 mph winds when its centre passed 73 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1893, whose centre came within 20 miles. The record near Freehold begins with an unnamed storm in 1856; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 4 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1890s, with 5 systems, 2 of them at hurricane strength. Of the 51 systems, 9 have come since 2000. Freehold has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 82% of the 455 New Jersey cities on this site. The highest rating among the 57 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 2 times; the most recent, on September 26, 1977, came within 16 miles. Of the 57, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 24 have come since 2000. August has had the most tornadoes, 12. The most recent tornado was on June 14, 2024. Freehold has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 56% of the 455 New Jersey cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 38 times since 1990, with stones up to 1.75 inches (golf ball size). Of the 455 New Jersey cities, 74% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Freehold.
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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Freehold
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | IdaSep 2 | 4 mi | Tropical storm (43 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2021 | ElsaJul 9 | 42 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2020 | IsaiasAug 4 | 57 mi | Tropical storm (64 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2020 | FayJul 11 | 1 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2013 | AndreaJun 8 | 43 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2012 | SandyOct 30 | 52 mi | Category 1 (79 mph) | Category 3 |
| 2011 | IreneAug 28 | 8 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 3 |
| 2008 | HannaSep 7 | 5 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2004 | CharleyAug 15 | 65 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1999 | FloydSep 16 | 25 mi | Tropical storm (60 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1996 | BerthaJul 13 | 6 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1985 | GloriaSep 27 | 38 mi | Category 1 (90 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1985 | HenriSep 24 | 59 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1976 | BelleAug 10 | 45 mi | Category 1 (78 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1972 | AgnesJun 22 | 43 mi | Tropical storm (62 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1971 | DoriaAug 28 | overhead | Tropical storm (62 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1968 | Unnamed 1968 stormSep 11 | 46 mi | Tropical storm (60 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1961 | Unnamed 1961 stormSep 15 | 30 mi | Tropical storm (62 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1960 | DonnaSep 12 | 51 mi | Category 2 (98 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1960 | BrendaJul 30 | 12 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1955 | DianeAug 19 | 20 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1952 | AbleSep 1 | 54 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1944 | Unnamed 1944 stormSep 15 | 61 mi | Category 2 (104 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1944 | Unnamed 1944 stormAug 3 | 60 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1938 | Unnamed 1938 stormSep 21 | 73 mi | Category 3 (121 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1934 | Unnamed 1934 stormSep 8 | 55 mi | Category 1 (76 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1934 | Unnamed 1934 stormJun 19 | overhead | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1924 | Unnamed 1924 stormSep 30 | 1 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1916 | Unnamed 1916 stormMay 17 | 43 mi | Tropical storm (54 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormAug 4 | 38 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1904 | Unnamed 1904 stormSep 15 | 37 mi | Category 1 (77 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1903 | Unnamed 1903 stormSep 16 | 36 mi | Tropical storm (67 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormJun 16 | 44 mi | Tropical storm (44 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1900 | Unnamed 1900 stormOct 14 | 28 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1899 | Unnamed 1899 stormNov 1 | 61 mi | Tropical storm (55 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1897 | Unnamed 1897 stormSep 24 | 50 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1894 | Unnamed 1894 stormOct 10 | 44 mi | Category 1 (86 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 29 | 63 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 24 | 20 mi | Category 1 (87 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormSep 11 | 20 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormAug 22 | 63 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1882 | Unnamed 1882 stormSep 24 | 33 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1879 | Unnamed 1879 stormAug 19 | 69 mi | Category 1 (92 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1877 | Unnamed 1877 stormOct 5 | 31 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1874 | Unnamed 1874 stormSep 29 | 2 mi | Tropical storm (66 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1872 | Unnamed 1872 stormOct 26 | 3 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1866 | Unnamed 1866 stormOct 30 | 7 mi | Tropical storm (62 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1863 | Unnamed 1863 stormSep 19 | 13 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1861 | Unnamed 1861 stormNov 3 | 68 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1861 | Unnamed 1861 stormSep 28 | 9 mi | Tropical storm (64 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1856 | Unnamed 1856 stormAug 20 | 66 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Tropical storm |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Freehold: 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 Freehold
By decade
- 2020s15
- 2010s6
- 2000s3
- 1990s12
- 1980s9
- 1970s1(1 EF3+)
- 1960s6(1 EF3+)
- 1950s5
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 26, 1977 | F3 | 16 mi | 5.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 24, 1960 | F3 | 13 mi | 12.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 1, 2023 | EF2 | 15 mi | 0.14 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 1, 2023 | EF2 | 6 mi | 1.59 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 1, 2023 | EF2 | 8 mi | 2.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 21, 2023 | EF2 | 17 mi | 5.8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 27, 2001 | F2 | 8 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 17, 1988 | F2 | 25 mi | 4.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 29, 1982 | F2 | 25 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 24, 1962 | F2 | 18 mi | 16.6 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jun 13, 1958 | F2 | 20 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Oct 16, 1955 | F2 | 11 mi | 3.8 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 57, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Freehold
The Storm Prediction Center has 38 hail reports within 10 miles of Freehold since 1990, made on 26 separate days. Of these, 14 were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest size, 1.75 inches (golf ball size), was reported on 3 days, most recently July 1, 2001. The most recent report is from May 3, 2025. July has the most reports, 16.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Freehold
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Freehold-Marlboro, NJ, 5 miles north of Freehold at 194 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 66°F; January is the coolest, at 42°F and 23°F. July and December are the wettest at 4.7 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.1 inches; the year adds up to 48.5 inches over 82 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 52% of the year's precipitation (25.0 of 48.5 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 51 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (21); a normal September there has highs of 78°F and 4.2 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 28 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 106 nights a year. That 48.5 inches is more than at 27 of the 51 New Jersey stations used on this site (53%). Millstone Township, 9 miles west, has its own station (Hightstown 2 W, NJ): 47.6 inches a year, 0.9 less than here, and the same July average high, 87°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Sandy Hook, NJ, 21 miles northeast, averaged 77°F in July and 38°F in January over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Sandy Hook tide gauge, 21 miles from Freehold, has risen 1.68 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1932 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 16.8 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 105 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 42 | 23 | 3.9 | 7 | 38 |
| Feb | 44 | 25 | 3.1 | 6 | 39 |
| Mar | 51 | 31 | 4.2 | 7 | 44 |
| Apr | 63 | 41 | 3.8 | 7 | 51 |
| May | 72 | 51 | 3.8 | 8 | 60 |
| Jun | 81 | 60 | 4.4 | 8 | 70 |
| Jul | 87 | 66 | 4.7 | 7 | 77 |
| Aug | 85 | 63 | 4.1 | 7 | 76 |
| Sep | 78 | 56 | 4.2 | 6 | 72 |
| Oct | 67 | 44 | 4.1 | 7 | 63 |
| Nov | 56 | 36 | 3.5 | 6 | 52 |
| Dec | 47 | 28 | 4.7 | 7 | 42 |
| Year | 64 | 44 | 48.5 | 82 | 57 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Freehold-Marlboro, NJ (194 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Sandy Hook, NJ, 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.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Freehold
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 209 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Freehold: 157 thunderstorm wind reports, 15 flash floods, 13 heavy rain events, 12 floods and 12 lightning strikes. They killed 3 people and injured 37, and the NWS estimated $16.2 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 98 mph, on November 1, 2019. Of the 455 New Jersey cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 39 have had fewer than Freehold.
September 7, 1998: thunderstorm wind 2 miles from the centre of Freehold — 1 killed, 30 injured.
August 16, 1997: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Freehold — 1 killed.
August 17, 2007: lightning strike 3 miles from the centre of Freehold — 1 killed.
NWS: “S. Route 9 North in Howell Township.”
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 Freehold's ZIP code 07728 have filed 54 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $381,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The year with the most claims was 2011, with 12. 54% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 395 New Jersey cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 155 have fewer than Freehold.
Monmouth County, which includes Freehold, has been named in 28 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 17 of them major disasters (by incident: 10 hurricanes, 4 floods, 4 snowstorms, 3 severe storms). The latest major disaster declaration was Remnants of Hurricane Ida, on September 5, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Monmouth County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for strong wind and lightning; Relatively High for inland flooding, coastal flooding and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes; Relatively Low for tornadoes; Very Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $281.6 million a year, the 3rd highest of 21 New Jersey counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $109.6 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 Freehold
- Manalapan, NJ5 mi
- Marlboro, NJ5 mi
- Colts Neck, NJ6 mi
- Farmingdale, NJ7 mi
- Howell, NJ7 mi
- Morganville, NJ8 mi
- Millstone Township, NJ9 mi
- Jackson, NJ9 mi
- Lincroft, NJ11 mi
- Monroe Township, NJ11 mi
- Old Bridge, NJ11 mi
- Holmdel, NJ11 mi
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