NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Middlebury, CT
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
49 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Middlebury, Connecticut since 1851, 10 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 58 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 3 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 10
- Tropical storms
- 39
- Tornadoes
- 58
- EF3 or stronger
- 3
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
1 deaths in all
What the records show for Middlebury
The strongest storm to pass near Middlebury was Carol in 1954, a Category 3 hurricane with 115 mph winds when its centre passed 60 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was Gloria in 1985, whose centre came within 9 miles. The record near Middlebury begins with an unnamed storm in 1858; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 66 miles away. The 1860s and the 1890s were the busiest decades, with 5 systems each. Of the 49 systems, 8 have come since 2000. Of the 186 Connecticut cities on this site, 47% have more hurricanes within 75 miles than Middlebury. The strongest of the 58 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F4 on July 10, 1989; its path came within 15 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on May 24, 1962, killed 1 person. Of the 58, 7 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 28 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 21. The most recent tornado was on June 21, 2024. Middlebury has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 68% of the 186 Connecticut cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 50 times since 1962, with stones up to 2 inches (hen egg size). Middlebury has more hail reports within 10 miles than 67% of the 186 Connecticut cities.
Compare Middlebury's storm record with another city →
Tropical storms and hurricanes near Middlebury
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | IdaSep 2 | 66 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2021 | HenriAug 22 | 58 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2021 | ElsaJul 9 | 61 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2020 | IsaiasAug 4 | 73 mi | Tropical storm (59 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2013 | AndreaJun 8 | 60 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2011 | IreneAug 28 | 22 mi | Tropical storm (60 mph) | Category 3 |
| 2008 | HannaSep 7 | 30 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2007 | BarryJun 4 | 74 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1999 | FloydSep 17 | 21 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1996 | BerthaJul 13 | 16 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1985 | GloriaSep 27 | 9 mi | Category 1 (86 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1985 | HenriSep 24 | 59 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1976 | BelleAug 10 | 9 mi | Tropical storm (60 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1972 | AgnesJun 22 | 41 mi | Tropical storm (54 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1971 | DoriaAug 28 | 16 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1968 | Unnamed 1968 stormSep 11 | 6 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1961 | Unnamed 1961 stormSep 15 | 27 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1960 | DonnaSep 12 | 40 mi | Category 1 (93 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1960 | BrendaJul 30 | 11 mi | Tropical storm (53 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1955 | DianeAug 19 | 58 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1954 | CarolAug 31 | 60 mi | Category 3 (115 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1952 | AbleSep 1 | 27 mi | Tropical storm (53 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1944 | Unnamed 1944 stormSep 15 | 64 mi | Category 2 (104 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1938 | Unnamed 1938 stormSep 21 | 10 mi | Category 2 (109 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1934 | Unnamed 1934 stormSep 9 | 19 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1934 | Unnamed 1934 stormJun 19 | 55 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1924 | Unnamed 1924 stormSep 30 | 20 mi | Tropical storm (66 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1916 | Unnamed 1916 stormMay 17 | 46 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormAug 4 | 3 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1908 | Unnamed 1908 stormMay 30 | 60 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1904 | Unnamed 1904 stormSep 15 | 68 mi | Category 1 (82 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormJun 16 | 51 mi | Tropical storm (41 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1899 | Unnamed 1899 stormNov 1 | 59 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1897 | Unnamed 1897 stormSep 24 | 48 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1894 | Unnamed 1894 stormOct 10 | 38 mi | Category 1 (76 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 29 | 44 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 24 | 23 mi | Category 1 (79 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormSep 12 | 40 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormAug 22 | overhead | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1882 | Unnamed 1882 stormSep 24 | 49 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1877 | Unnamed 1877 stormOct 5 | 63 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1874 | Unnamed 1874 stormSep 30 | 9 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1872 | Unnamed 1872 stormOct 26 | 29 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1869 | Unnamed 1869 stormSep 8 | 72 mi | Category 3 (115 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1866 | Unnamed 1866 stormOct 30 | 41 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1863 | Unnamed 1863 stormSep 19 | 31 mi | Tropical storm (47 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1861 | Unnamed 1861 stormNov 3 | 56 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1861 | Unnamed 1861 stormSep 28 | 6 mi | Tropical storm (60 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1858 | Unnamed 1858 stormSep 16 | 58 mi | Category 1 (83 mph) | Category 2 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Middlebury: 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 Middlebury
By decade
- 2020s8
- 2010s12
- 2000s8
- 1990s9
- 1980s5(1 EF3+)
- 1970s10(1 EF3+)
- 1960s3(1 EF3+)
- 1950s3
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 10, 1989 | F4 | 15 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 40 |
| May 24, 1962 | F3 | 1 mi | 11.6 mi | 1 / 50 |
| Jul 29, 1971 | F3 | 4 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Jun 23, 2001 | F2 | 18 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 10, 1989 | F2 | 4 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 70 |
| Jul 10, 1989 | F2 | 14 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 4 |
| Jul 5, 1984 | F2 | 13 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 18, 1973 | F2 | 12 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 31, 1973 | F2 | 24 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 12, 1973 | F2 | 6 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 18, 1962 | F2 | 17 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 24, 1955 | F2 | 4 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 58, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Middlebury
The Storm Prediction Center has 50 hail reports within 10 miles of Middlebury since 1962, made on 28 separate days. Of these, 22 were 1 inch across or larger, and one reached 2 inches. The largest, 2 inches (hen egg size), fell on May 31, 2002. The most recent report is from June 22, 2024. July has the most reports, 19.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Middlebury
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Mt Carmel, CT, 14 miles southeast of Middlebury at 180 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 64°F; January is the coolest, at 38°F and 20°F. June and October are the wettest at 4.9 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.5 inches; the year adds up to 50.5 inches over 82 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 52% of the year's precipitation (26.1 of 50.5 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 49 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (22); a normal September there has highs of 76°F and 4.3 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 14 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 123 nights a year. That 50.5 inches is more than at 15 of the 27 Connecticut stations used on this site (56%). Oakville, 4 miles north, has its own station (Meriden Markham Municipal Airport, CT): 45.0 inches a year, 5.5 less than here, and a July average high of 84°F against 85°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station New Haven, CT, 20 miles southeast, 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, 25 miles from Middlebury, 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.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 38 | 20 | 3.6 | 7 | 39 |
| Feb | 41 | 22 | 3.5 | 6 | 37 |
| Mar | 48 | 28 | 4.4 | 7 | 41 |
| Apr | 61 | 38 | 4.7 | 8 | 48 |
| May | 71 | 48 | 3.7 | 7 | 57 |
| Jun | 79 | 58 | 4.9 | 7 | 65 |
| Jul | 85 | 64 | 3.8 | 7 | 74 |
| Aug | 84 | 62 | 3.8 | 7 | 75 |
| Sep | 76 | 55 | 4.3 | 7 | 72 |
| Oct | 64 | 43 | 4.9 | 5 | 63 |
| Nov | 53 | 34 | 4.4 | 6 | 53 |
| Dec | 42 | 27 | 4.5 | 7 | 43 |
| Year | 62 | 42 | 50.5 | 82 | 56 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Mt Carmel, CT (180 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station New Haven, CT, 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 Middlebury
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 238 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Middlebury: 165 thunderstorm wind reports, 54 flash floods, 11 floods, 7 lightning strikes and 1 heavy rain event. They killed 4 people and injured 6, and the NWS estimated $2.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on June 9, 2011. August has had the most flash floods, 30 of 54. Of the 186 Connecticut cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 154 have had fewer than Middlebury.
August 18, 2024: flash flood 6 miles from the centre of Middlebury — 2 killed.
April 23, 2006: flood 10 miles from the centre of Middlebury — 1 killed.
September 2, 2021: flood 6 miles from the centre of Middlebury — 1 killed.
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
Flood insurance policyholders in Middlebury's ZIP code 06762 have filed 11 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $80,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 45% 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, 2 have fewer than Middlebury.
New Haven County, which includes Middlebury, has been named in 36 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1978, 20 of them major disasters (by incident: 11 hurricanes, 9 severe storms, 8 snowstorms, 3 floods). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storm, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, on September 20, 2024.
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).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.