Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Meriden, CT

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Meriden Markham Municipal Airport, CT, 2 miles southwest of Meriden at 103 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 84°F and low of 63°F; January is the coolest, at 37°F and 19°F. October is the wettest at 4.5 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.9 inches; the year adds up to 45.0 inches over 74 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 52% of the year's precipitation (23.2 of 45.0 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 50 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (22); a normal September there has highs of 75°F and 4.3 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 129 nights a year. That 45.0 inches is more than at 6 of the 27 Connecticut stations used on this site (22%). Cromwell, 9 miles northeast, has its own station (Hartford Brainard Field, CT): 42.9 inches a year, 2.1 less than here, and a July average high of 85°F against 84°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station New Haven, CT, 18 miles south, averaged 75°F in August and 37°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Bridgeport tide gauge, 32 miles from Meriden, has risen 1.35 ± 0.08 inches per decade from 1964 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 13.5 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 81 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 155 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Meriden: 107 thunderstorm wind reports, 27 flash floods, 13 floods and 8 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $941,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on July 19, 2008. September has had the most flash floods, 9 of 27. Of the 186 Connecticut cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 92 have had fewer than Meriden.

Flood insurance policyholders in Meriden's 2 ZIP codes have filed 250 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $2.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1992: 51 claims (20% of all) and $1.3 million, then Not a named storm in 1982 with 36. 42% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 128 Connecticut cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 104 have fewer than Meriden.