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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Gillette, 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

44 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Gillette, New Jersey since 1851, 8 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 59 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 4 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
8

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
36

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
59

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
4

no recorded deaths

What the records show for Gillette

The strongest storm to pass near Gillette was Donna in 1960, a Category 2 hurricane with 98 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 30 miles. The record near Gillette begins with an unnamed storm in 1861; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 36 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1890s, with 5 systems, 2 of them at hurricane strength. Of the 44 systems, 7 have come since 2000. Gillette has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 53% of the 455 New Jersey cities on this site. The highest rating among the 59 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 4 times; the most recent, on October 18, 1990, came within 21 miles. Of the 59, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 16 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 15. The most recent tornado was on June 26, 2023. Gillette has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 63% of the 455 New Jersey cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 61 times since 1967, with stones up to 1.75 inches (golf ball size). Of the 455 New Jersey cities, 52% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Gillette.

Compare Gillette's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Gillette

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Gillette, New Jersey, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2021IdaSep 236 miTropical storm (43 mph)Category 4
2021ElsaJul 970 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
2020IsaiasAug 436 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 1
2020FayJul 1135 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
2013AndreaJun 870 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
2011IreneAug 2825 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
2008HannaSep 734 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
1999FloydSep 1648 miTropical storm (59 mph)Category 4
1996BerthaJul 1323 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1985GloriaSep 2759 miCategory 1 (87 mph)Category 4
1976BelleAug 1061 miCategory 1 (74 mph)Category 3
1972AgnesJun 2244 miTropical storm (59 mph)Category 1
1971DoriaAug 2822 miTropical storm (61 mph)Tropical storm
1968Unnamed 1968 stormSep 1161 miTropical storm (62 mph)Tropical storm
1961Unnamed 1961 stormSep 1555 miTropical storm (62 mph)Tropical storm
1960DonnaSep 1273 miCategory 2 (98 mph)Category 4
1960BrendaJul 3037 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1955DianeAug 1912 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1952AbleSep 124 miTropical storm (56 mph)Category 2
1934Unnamed 1934 stormSep 872 miCategory 1 (75 mph)Category 2
1934Unnamed 1934 stormJun 1931 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1929Unnamed 1929 stormOct 370 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 4
1924Unnamed 1924 stormSep 3022 miTropical storm (68 mph)Category 1
1916Unnamed 1916 stormMay 1769 miTropical storm (55 mph)Tropical storm
1915Unnamed 1915 stormAug 47 miTropical storm (56 mph)Category 1
1904Unnamed 1904 stormSep 1567 miCategory 1 (78 mph)Category 1
1903Unnamed 1903 stormSep 1636 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 2
1902Unnamed 1902 stormJun 1671 miTropical storm (44 mph)Tropical storm
1900Unnamed 1900 stormOct 1448 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1899Unnamed 1899 stormNov 135 miTropical storm (55 mph)Category 2
1897Unnamed 1897 stormSep 2475 miTropical storm (63 mph)Tropical storm
1894Unnamed 1894 stormOct 1069 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 3
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2934 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2430 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 3
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 1148 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1888Unnamed 1888 stormAug 2231 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 3
1882Unnamed 1882 stormSep 2461 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1878Unnamed 1878 stormOct 2370 miCategory 1 (82 mph)Category 2
1877Unnamed 1877 stormOct 561 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1874Unnamed 1874 stormSep 2928 miTropical storm (67 mph)Category 1
1872Unnamed 1872 stormOct 2631 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1866Unnamed 1866 stormOct 3020 miTropical storm (60 mph)Tropical storm
1863Unnamed 1863 stormSep 199 miTropical storm (51 mph)Tropical storm
1861Unnamed 1861 stormSep 2834 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 1

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

By decade

  • 2020s4
  • 2010s5
  • 2000s7
  • 1990s16(1 EF3+)
  • 1980s13
  • 1970s11(3 EF3+)
  • 1960s1
  • 1950s2
Strongest tornadoes near Gillette, New Jersey
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Oct 18, 1990F321 mi0.5 mi0 / 8
Sep 26, 1977F316 mi5.9 mi0 / 0
May 28, 1973F317 mi0.4 mi0 / 12
May 28, 1973F38 mi0.4 mi0 / 0
Aug 8, 2007EF224 mi3.92 mi0 / 9
May 27, 2001F223 mi1.5 mi0 / 0
Oct 26, 1981F225 mi0.8 mi0 / 0
Jul 20, 1981F218 mi3.6 mi0 / 0
Apr 14, 1974F221 mi0.5 mi0 / 0
Feb 2, 1973F222 mi0.3 mi0 / 0
Jun 26, 2023EF16 mi1.38 mi0 / 0
Oct 31, 2019EF14 mi4.87 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 59, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Gillette

The Storm Prediction Center has 61 hail reports within 10 miles of Gillette since 1967, made on 39 separate days. Of these, 37 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 18, 2006. The most recent report is from August 6, 2024. July has the most reports, 22.

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

Weather by month in Gillette

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Plainfield, NJ, 7 miles southeast of Gillette at 90 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 66°F; January is the coolest, at 41°F and 24°F. July is the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.1 inches; the year adds up to 48.7 inches over 78 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (25.7 of 48.7 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 44 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (18); a normal September there has highs of 79°F and 4.3 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 29 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 103 nights a year. Snowfall averages 21.4 inches a year, most of it in February. That 48.7 inches is more than at 28 of the 51 New Jersey stations used on this site (55%). New Providence, 4 miles east, has its own station (Canoe Brook, NJ): 50.4 inches a year, 1.7 more than here, and a July average high of 86°F against 88°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station The Battery, NY, 24 miles east, averaged 74°F in August and 39°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Bergen Point tide gauge, 17 miles from Gillette, has risen 1.86 ± 0.13 inches per decade from 1981 to 2024, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 18.6 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 114 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Plainfield, NJ
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Snow inWater °F
Jan41243.875.141
Feb44263.158.339
Mar53324.385.342
Apr66423.670.149
May75514.070.058
Jun84604.370.066
Jul88665.370.073
Aug86644.060.074
Sep79584.360.072
Oct66464.360.065
Nov56363.560.256
Dec46294.272.446
Year654448.77821.457

Averages for 1991–2020 at Plainfield, NJ (90 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station The Battery, 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 Jersey weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Gillette

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 587 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Gillette: 385 thunderstorm wind reports, 127 flash floods, 51 floods, 19 lightning strikes and 5 heavy rain events. They killed 9 people and injured 6, and the NWS estimated $113.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 92 mph, on July 1, 2013. July has had the most flash floods, 51 of 127. Of the 455 New Jersey cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 277 have had fewer than Gillette.

  • September 1, 2021: flash flood 8 miles from the centre of Gillette — 3 killed, $50.0 million damage.

  • July 3, 2025: thunderstorm wind 6 miles from the centre of Gillette — 2 killed, $15,000 damage.

  • July 14, 2025: flash flood 6 miles from the centre of Gillette — 2 killed.

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 Gillette's ZIP code 07933 have filed 26 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $282,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 85% 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, 74 have fewer than Gillette.

Morris County, which includes Gillette, has been named in 33 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 22 of them major disasters (by incident: 10 hurricanes, 8 severe storms, 5 snowstorms, 4 floods). The latest major disaster declaration was Remnants of Hurricane Ida, on September 5, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Morris County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for inland flooding, strong wind and lightning; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes, tornadoes and heat waves; Very Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $208.1 million a year, the 5th highest of 21 New Jersey counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $158.1 million (76%), 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 Gillette