Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Gales Ferry, CT

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Groton, CT, 6 miles south of Gales Ferry at 40 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 81°F and low of 66°F; January is the coolest, at 39°F and 24°F. March is the wettest at 4.9 inches of precipitation on average and February and July the driest at 3.4 inches; the year adds up to 48.9 inches over 81 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 49% of the year's precipitation (24.0 of 48.9 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 57 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (24); a normal September there has highs of 74°F and 4.3 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 3 days a year, almost all from July. Lows fall below freezing on about 101 nights a year. Snowfall averages 24.5 inches a year, most of it in February. That 48.9 inches is more than at 11 of the 27 Connecticut stations used on this site (41%). Uncasville, 3 miles northwest, has its own station (Norwich Public Utility Plt, CT): 52.3 inches a year, 3.4 more than here, and a July average high of 84°F against 81°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station New London, CT, 4 miles south, averaged 71°F in August and 39°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the New London tide gauge, 4 miles from Gales Ferry, has risen 1.16 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1938 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 11.6 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 66 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 121 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Gales Ferry: 50 flash floods, 43 thunderstorm wind reports, 21 floods, 6 lightning strikes and 1 heavy rain event. They killed 2 people and injured 16, and the NWS estimated $2.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 85 mph, on July 2, 2008. July has had the most flash floods, 24 of 50. Of the 186 Connecticut cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 145 have had fewer than Gales Ferry.

Flood insurance policyholders in Gales Ferry's ZIP code 06335 have filed 14 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1982, and were paid $63,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 64% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 128 Connecticut cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 14 have fewer than Gales Ferry.