Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Long Island City, NY

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is New York Cntrl Pk Twr, NY, 4 miles northwest of Long Island City at 130 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 70°F; January is the coolest, at 40°F and 28°F. July and August are the wettest at 4.6 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.2 inches; the year adds up to 49.6 inches over 79 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 52% of the year's precipitation (26.0 of 49.6 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 46 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (21); a normal September there has highs of 76°F and 4.3 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 17 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 67 nights a year. Snowfall averages 29.8 inches a year, most of it in February. That 49.6 inches is more than at 120 of the 137 New York stations used on this site (88%). Sunnyside, 1 mile northeast, has its own station (New York Laguardia Airport, NY): 45.4 inches a year, 4.2 less than here, and a July average high of 86°F against 85°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station The Battery, NY, 5 miles southwest, averaged 74°F in August and 39°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the The Battery tide gauge, 5 miles from Long Island City, has risen 1.16 ± 0.02 inches per decade from 1856 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 662 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Long Island City: 304 thunderstorm wind reports, 282 flash floods, 50 floods, 23 lightning strikes and 3 heavy rain events. They killed 19 people and injured 42, and the NWS estimated $236.6 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 125 mph, on September 16, 2010. July has had the most flash floods, 79 of 282. Of the 798 New York cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 792 have had fewer than Long Island City.

Flood insurance policyholders in Long Island City's 2 ZIP codes have filed 89 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $16.0 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Sandy in 2012: 50 claims (56% of all) and $14.0 million. 82% 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, 364 have fewer than Long Island City.