Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Hempstead, NY

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Mineola, NY, 2 miles north of Hempstead at 96 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 42°F and 27°F. March is the wettest at 4.4 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.0 inches; the year adds up to 45.4 inches over 74 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 51% of the year's precipitation (23.2 of 45.4 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 4.1 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 16 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 83 nights a year. Snowfall averages 18.5 inches a year, most of it in February. That 45.4 inches is more than at 86 of the 137 New York stations used on this site (63%). Roosevelt, 2 miles southeast, has its own station (Oceanside, NY): 48.8 inches a year, 3.4 more than here, and a July average high of 82°F against 87°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Kings Point, NY, 11 miles northwest, averaged 74°F in August and 38°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Kings Point tide gauge, 11 miles from Hempstead, has risen 1.08 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1931 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 10.8 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 62 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 405 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Hempstead: 196 thunderstorm wind reports, 171 flash floods, 18 floods, 18 lightning strikes and 2 heavy rain events. They killed 4 people and injured 28, and the NWS estimated $15.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on June 24, 2010. August has had the most flash floods, 55 of 171. Of the 798 New York cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 716 have had fewer than Hempstead.

Flood insurance policyholders in Hempstead's ZIP code 11550 have filed 40 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $704,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Sandy in 2012: 15 claims (38% of all) and $458,000. 57% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 549 New York cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 245 have fewer than Hempstead.