NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Merrimac, MA
Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
43 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Merrimac, Massachusetts since 1851, 6 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Elsa in 2021. Since 1950, 35 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 2 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 6
- Tropical storms
- 37
- Tornadoes
- 35
- EF3 or stronger
- 2
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
no recorded deaths
What the records show for Merrimac
The strongest storm to pass near Merrimac was an unnamed storm in 1869, a Category 2 hurricane with 104 mph winds when its centre passed 39 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1869, whose centre came within 4 miles. The record near Merrimac begins with an unnamed storm in 1851; the most recent system was Elsa in 2021, a tropical storm 41 miles away. The 1890s and the 1960s were the busiest decades, with 5 systems each. Of the 43 systems, 4 have come since 2000. Of the 346 Massachusetts cities on this site, 91% have more hurricanes within 75 miles than Merrimac. The highest rating among the 35 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 2 times; the most recent, on September 29, 1974, came within 18 miles. Of the 35, 2 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and one has come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 13. The most recent tornado was on May 21, 2006. Of the 346 Massachusetts cities, 68% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Merrimac. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 61 times since 1961, with stones up to 2 inches (hen egg size). Merrimac has more hail reports within 10 miles than 59% of the 346 Massachusetts cities.
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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Merrimac
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | ElsaJul 9 | 41 mi | Tropical storm (51 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2013 | AndreaJun 8 | 43 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2008 | HannaSep 7 | 33 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2007 | BarryJun 5 | 21 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1999 | FloydSep 17 | 7 mi | Tropical storm (54 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1996 | BerthaJul 14 | 6 mi | Tropical storm (67 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1991 | BobAug 19 | 30 mi | Category 1 (83 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1985 | GloriaSep 27 | 47 mi | Category 1 (76 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1976 | BelleAug 10 | 73 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1971 | DoriaAug 28 | 67 mi | Tropical storm (53 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1966 | AlmaJun 14 | 63 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1961 | EstherSep 26 | 49 mi | Tropical storm (48 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1961 | Unnamed 1961 stormSep 15 | 11 mi | Tropical storm (67 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1960 | DonnaSep 13 | 8 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1960 | BrendaJul 31 | 28 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1959 | CindyJul 11 | 62 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1954 | CarolAug 31 | 24 mi | Category 1 (94 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1944 | Unnamed 1944 stormSep 15 | 37 mi | Tropical storm (72 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1934 | Unnamed 1934 stormSep 9 | 35 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1923 | Unnamed 1923 stormOct 19 | 6 mi | Tropical storm (49 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1916 | Unnamed 1916 stormJul 21 | 25 mi | Tropical storm (55 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1916 | Unnamed 1916 stormMay 17 | 5 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormAug 5 | 70 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1908 | Unnamed 1908 stormMay 31 | 1 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1907 | Unnamed 1907 stormJun 30 | 55 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1904 | Unnamed 1904 stormSep 15 | 67 mi | Category 1 (86 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormJun 17 | 20 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1899 | Unnamed 1899 stormNov 1 | 72 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1897 | Unnamed 1897 stormSep 24 | 1 mi | Tropical storm (43 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1896 | Unnamed 1896 stormSep 10 | 24 mi | Tropical storm (59 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1894 | Unnamed 1894 stormOct 10 | 18 mi | Tropical storm (60 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 29 | 59 mi | Tropical storm (60 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormSep 12 | 30 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormAug 22 | 41 mi | Tropical storm (49 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1878 | Unnamed 1878 stormOct 24 | overhead | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1874 | Unnamed 1874 stormSep 30 | 19 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1872 | Unnamed 1872 stormOct 27 | 61 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1869 | Unnamed 1869 stormOct 4 | 39 mi | Category 2 (104 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1869 | Unnamed 1869 stormSep 9 | 4 mi | Category 1 (92 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1861 | Unnamed 1861 stormNov 3 | 6 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1861 | Unnamed 1861 stormSep 28 | 6 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1858 | Unnamed 1858 stormSep 16 | 14 mi | Tropical storm (72 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1851 | Unnamed 1851 stormOct 19 | 65 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Merrimac: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Merrimac
By decade
- 2000s1
- 1990s1
- 1980s1
- 1970s8(1 EF3+)
- 1960s14
- 1950s10(1 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 29, 1974 | F3 | 18 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jun 9, 1953 | F3 | 10 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 5 |
| May 21, 2006 | F2 | 10 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 2 |
| May 3, 1976 | F2 | 22 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 21, 1972 | F2 | 24 mi | 7.6 mi | 0 / 4 |
| Aug 28, 1965 | F2 | 19 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 9, 1963 | F2 | 20 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 2, 1961 | F2 | 11 mi | 5.1 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Aug 25, 1958 | F2 | 21 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 19, 1957 | F2 | 21 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Nov 21, 1956 | F2 | 2 mi | 0.8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 21, 1951 | F2 | 5 mi | 4.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 35, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Merrimac
The Storm Prediction Center has 61 hail reports within 10 miles of Merrimac since 1961, made on 34 separate days. Of these, 40 were 1 inch across or larger, and 2 reached 2 inches. The largest size, 2 inches (hen egg size), was reported on 2 days, most recently July 11, 2006. The most recent report is from May 3, 2025. July has the most reports, 24.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Merrimac
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Haverhill, MA, 6 miles southwest of Merrimac at 20 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 82°F and low of 61°F; January is the coolest, at 35°F and 16°F. October is the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and January the driest at 3.5 inches; the year adds up to 49.6 inches over 84 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 50% of the year's precipitation (24.8 of 49.6 inches). September has brought the most of the 43 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (16); a normal September there has highs of 74°F and 4.0 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 13 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 144 nights a year. Snowfall averages 57.8 inches a year, most of it in January. That 49.6 inches is more than at 45 of the 65 Massachusetts stations used on this site (69%). West Newbury, 3 miles southeast, has its own station (Groveland, MA): 49.1 inches a year, 0.5 less than here, and a July average high of 83°F against 82°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Seavey Island, ME, 22 miles northeast, averaged 64°F in August and 37°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Seavey Island tide gauge, 22 miles from Merrimac, has risen 0.87 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1926 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 8.7 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 48 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 35 | 16 | 3.5 | 7 | 16.2 | 40 |
| Feb | 38 | 17 | 3.6 | 6 | 15.6 | 37 |
| Mar | 45 | 24 | 4.8 | 8 | 11.9 | 40 |
| Apr | 57 | 34 | 4.3 | 8 | 1.8 | 44 |
| May | 68 | 45 | 4.1 | 8 | 0.0 | 52 |
| Jun | 76 | 54 | 4.2 | 8 | 0.0 | 58 |
| Jul | 82 | 61 | 3.6 | 6 | 0.0 | 61 |
| Aug | 81 | 59 | 3.8 | 6 | 0.0 | 64 |
| Sep | 74 | 51 | 4.0 | 6 | 0.0 | 62 |
| Oct | 62 | 40 | 5.3 | 7 | 0.1 | 57 |
| Nov | 51 | 31 | 3.9 | 7 | 1.4 | 50 |
| Dec | 40 | 22 | 4.5 | 8 | 10.8 | 43 |
| Year | 59 | 38 | 49.6 | 84 | 57.8 | 51 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Haverhill, MA (20 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Seavey Island, ME, from NOAA Tides & Currents. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Merrimac
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 135 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Merrimac: 110 thunderstorm wind reports, 14 floods, 7 lightning strikes and 4 flash floods. They killed 1 person and injured 27, and the NWS estimated $3.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 90 mph, on July 18, 2016.
June 20, 2008: lightning strike 4 miles from the centre of Merrimac — 1 killed, 1 injured.
March 30, 2010: flood 2 miles from the centre of Merrimac — 15 injured, $3.3 million damage.
August 20, 2004: thunderstorm wind 10 miles from the centre of Merrimac — 10 injured.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Essex County, which includes Merrimac, has been named in 40 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1972, 25 of them major disasters (by incident: 10 severe storms, 8 snowstorms, 7 floods, 7 hurricanes). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on March 27, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Essex County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for coastal flooding; Relatively High for hurricanes, tornadoes, inland flooding, strong wind and lightning; Relatively Moderate for heat waves; Very Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $198.8 million a year, the 2nd highest of 14 Massachusetts counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $124.6 million (63%), is from inland flooding.
Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.
Cities near Merrimac
- West Newbury, MA3 mi
- Newton, NH3 mi
- Amesbury, MA4 mi
- Plaistow, NH5 mi
- South Hampton, NH6 mi
- Haverhill, MA6 mi
- Groveland, MA6 mi
- Byfield, MA6 mi
- Kingston, NH7 mi
- Salisbury, MA7 mi
- Newburyport, MA7 mi
- East Hampstead, NH7 mi
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