Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Merrick, NY

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Wantagh Cedar Creek, NY, 3 miles east of Merrick at 10 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 69°F; January is the coolest, at 42°F and 28°F. December is the wettest at 4.4 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 42.8 inches over 72 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 49% of the year's precipitation (21.1 of 42.8 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 52 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (21); a normal September there has highs of 78°F and 3.6 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 9 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 77 nights a year. That 42.8 inches is more than at 62 of the 137 New York stations used on this site (45%). Freeport, 2 miles southwest, has its own station (Oceanside, NY): 48.8 inches a year, 6.0 more than here, and a July average high of 82°F against 85°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Kings Point, NY, 15 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, 15 miles from Merrick, 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 297 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Merrick: 152 thunderstorm wind reports, 116 flash floods, 14 floods, 14 lightning strikes and 1 heavy rain event. They killed 0 people and injured 13, and the NWS estimated $14.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 75 mph, on September 7, 1998. August has had the most flash floods, 42 of 116. Of the 798 New York cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 673 have had fewer than Merrick.

Flood insurance policyholders in Merrick's ZIP code 11566 have filed 2,053 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $83.1 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Sandy in 2012: 1,267 claims (62% of all) and $78.9 million, then Late summer storms in 2011 with 193 and Hurricane Irene in 2011 with 140. 92% 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, 530 have fewer than Merrick.