Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Lexington, MA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Bedford Hanscom Field, MA, 4 miles northwest of Lexington at 133 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 62°F; January is the coolest, at 37°F and 18°F. October is the wettest at 4.2 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.7 inches; the year adds up to 42.6 inches over 78 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 52% of the year's precipitation (22.1 of 42.6 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 48 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (18); a normal September there has highs of 76°F and 3.5 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 15 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 139 nights a year. That 42.6 inches is more than at 5 of the 65 Massachusetts stations used on this site (8%). Winchester, 4 miles east, has its own station (Reading, MA): 49.9 inches a year, 7.3 more than here, and a July average high of 84°F against 85°F.

Sea level at the Boston tide gauge, 11 miles from Lexington, has risen 1.17 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1921 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 11.7 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 68 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 450 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Lexington: 291 thunderstorm wind reports, 105 floods, 29 flash floods and 25 lightning strikes. They killed 0 people and injured 10, and the NWS estimated $29.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on July 7, 2014. July has had the most flash floods, 15 of 29. Of the 339 Massachusetts cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 256 have had fewer than Lexington.

Flood insurance policyholders in Lexington's 2 ZIP codes have filed 69 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $235,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Not a named storm in 1979: 21 claims (30% of all) and $33,000, then March 2010 Nor'easter in 2010 with 18 and Flooding in 2001 with 12. The year with the most claims was 2010, with 18. 75% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 229 Massachusetts cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 151 have fewer than Lexington.