Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Harpswell, ME

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Brunswick NAS, ME, 7 miles north of Harpswell at 70 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 79°F and low of 59°F; January is the coolest, at 30°F and 12°F. October is the wettest at 6.0 inches of precipitation on average and August the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 50.2 inches over 77 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (26.4 of 50.2 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 39 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (20); a normal September there has highs of 70°F and 4.2 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 4 days a year, almost all from July to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 152 nights a year. Snowfall averages 66.8 inches a year, most of it in January. That 50.2 inches is more than at 39 of the 47 Maine stations used on this site (83%). Freeport, 8 miles northwest, has its own station (Gray, ME): 50.1 inches a year, 0.1 less than here, and the same July average high, 79°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Portland, ME, 18 miles southwest, averaged 63°F in August and 36°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Portland tide gauge, 18 miles from Harpswell, has risen 0.78 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1912 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 7.8 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 37 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 44 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Harpswell: 38 thunderstorm wind reports, 3 flash floods, 2 floods and 1 lightning strike. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $1.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on July 21, 2010.

Flood insurance policyholders in Harpswell's ZIP code 04079 have filed 20 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $129,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 15% 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, 24 have fewer than Harpswell.