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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Newtown, 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

47 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Newtown, Connecticut since 1851, 9 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 55 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 3 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
9

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
38

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
55

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
3

1 deaths in all

What the records show for Newtown

The strongest storm to pass near Newtown was Carol in 1954, a Category 3 hurricane with 115 mph winds when its centre passed 66 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1893, whose centre came within 16 miles. The record near Newtown begins with an unnamed storm in 1858; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 61 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1890s, with 5 systems, 2 of them at hurricane strength. Of the 47 systems, 7 have come since 2000. Of the 186 Connecticut cities on this site, 76% have more hurricanes within 75 miles than Newtown. The strongest of the 55 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F4 on July 10, 1989; its path came within 21 miles. The deadliest, an F3 on May 24, 1962, killed 1 person. Of the 55, one had a path 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 August 12, 2023. Newtown has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 63% of the 186 Connecticut cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 27 times since 1961, with stones up to 1.75 inches (golf ball size). Of the 186 Connecticut cities, 70% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Newtown.

Compare Newtown's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Newtown

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Newtown, Connecticut, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2021IdaSep 261 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 4
2021HenriAug 2268 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
2021ElsaJul 962 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
2020IsaiasAug 468 miTropical storm (60 mph)Category 1
2013AndreaJun 861 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
2011IreneAug 2815 miTropical storm (61 mph)Category 3
2008HannaSep 730 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
1999FloydSep 1724 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 4
1996BerthaJul 1316 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1985GloriaSep 2716 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 4
1985HenriSep 2459 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1976BelleAug 1015 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
1972AgnesJun 2228 miTropical storm (55 mph)Category 1
1971DoriaAug 2811 miTropical storm (56 mph)Tropical storm
1968Unnamed 1968 stormSep 1114 miTropical storm (63 mph)Tropical storm
1961Unnamed 1961 stormSep 1531 miTropical storm (63 mph)Tropical storm
1960DonnaSep 1244 miCategory 1 (94 mph)Category 4
1960BrendaJul 3015 miTropical storm (54 mph)Tropical storm
1955DianeAug 1950 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1954CarolAug 3166 miCategory 3 (115 mph)Category 3
1952AbleSep 127 miTropical storm (54 mph)Category 2
1944Unnamed 1944 stormSep 1567 miCategory 2 (104 mph)Category 5
1938Unnamed 1938 stormSep 2121 miCategory 3 (113 mph)Category 5
1934Unnamed 1934 stormSep 921 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1934Unnamed 1934 stormJun 1951 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 2
1924Unnamed 1924 stormSep 3014 miTropical storm (66 mph)Category 1
1916Unnamed 1916 stormMay 1750 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1915Unnamed 1915 stormAug 44 miTropical storm (53 mph)Category 1
1908Unnamed 1908 stormMay 3066 miTropical storm (41 mph)Category 1
1904Unnamed 1904 stormSep 1567 miCategory 1 (81 mph)Category 1
1902Unnamed 1902 stormJun 1653 miTropical storm (41 mph)Tropical storm
1899Unnamed 1899 stormNov 156 miTropical storm (53 mph)Category 2
1897Unnamed 1897 stormSep 2450 miTropical storm (54 mph)Tropical storm
1894Unnamed 1894 stormOct 1043 miCategory 1 (79 mph)Category 3
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2943 miTropical storm (63 mph)Category 3
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2416 miCategory 1 (81 mph)Category 3
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 1241 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1888Unnamed 1888 stormAug 225 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 3
1882Unnamed 1882 stormSep 2450 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1877Unnamed 1877 stormOct 562 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 3
1874Unnamed 1874 stormSep 3011 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 1
1872Unnamed 1872 stormOct 2628 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1866Unnamed 1866 stormOct 3033 miTropical storm (56 mph)Tropical storm
1863Unnamed 1863 stormSep 1926 miTropical storm (47 mph)Tropical storm
1861Unnamed 1861 stormNov 359 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 1
1861Unnamed 1861 stormSep 289 miTropical storm (60 mph)Category 1
1858Unnamed 1858 stormSep 1665 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 2

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Newtown: 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 Newtown

By decade

  • 2020s7
  • 2010s12
  • 2000s9
  • 1990s9
  • 1980s5(1 EF3+)
  • 1970s7(1 EF3+)
  • 1960s2(1 EF3+)
  • 1950s4
Strongest tornadoes near Newtown, Connecticut
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Jul 10, 1989F421 mi3 mi0 / 40
May 24, 1962F315 mi11.6 mi1 / 50
Jul 29, 1971F317 mi0.1 mi0 / 2
May 15, 2018EF220 mi1.18 mi0 / 0
Jul 10, 1989F219 mi0.5 mi0 / 5
Jul 10, 1989F217 mi5 mi0 / 70
Jul 10, 1989F223 mi10 mi0 / 4
Jun 12, 1973F218 mi1.5 mi0 / 0
Jul 29, 1971F220 mi4.5 mi0 / 0
Jul 19, 1971F221 mi1.5 mi0 / 0
Oct 24, 1955F215 mi0.5 mi0 / 0
Aug 21, 1951F216 mi43.9 mi0 / 9

The strongest 12 of 55, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Newtown

The Storm Prediction Center has 27 hail reports within 10 miles of Newtown since 1961, made on 20 separate days. Of these, 17 were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest size, 1.75 inches (golf ball size), was reported on 2 days, most recently June 5, 2007. The most recent report is from June 30, 2019. August has the most reports, 10.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.

Weather by month in Newtown

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Danbury, CT, 6 miles west of Newtown at 405 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 64°F; January is the coolest, at 36°F and 21°F. July and October are the wettest at 5.0 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 53.0 inches over 86 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (28.6 of 53.0 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 47 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (21); a normal September there has highs of 75°F and 4.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 20 days a year, almost all from May to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 126 nights a year. Snowfall averages 49.3 inches a year, most of it in January. That 53.0 inches is more than at 22 of the 27 Connecticut stations used on this site (81%). Redding, 8 miles southwest, has its own station (Danbury Municipal Airport, CT): 48.1 inches a year, 4.9 less than here, and a July average high of 82°F against 85°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Bridgeport, CT, 17 miles southeast, averaged 76°F in August and 39°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Bridgeport tide gauge, 17 miles from Newtown, 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.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Danbury, CT
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Snow inWater °F
Jan36213.7715.742
Feb39223.3711.039
Mar48294.4810.442
Apr61394.281.748
May72494.280.056
Jun80594.870.065
Jul85645.070.073
Aug82634.970.076
Sep75554.960.074
Oct63435.060.066
Nov50344.071.956
Dec40264.688.646
Year614253.08649.357

Averages for 1991–2020 at Danbury, CT (405 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Bridgeport, 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.

Connecticut weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Newtown

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 250 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Newtown: 163 thunderstorm wind reports, 56 flash floods, 25 floods and 6 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 9, and the NWS estimated $1.3 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, 26 of 56. Of the 186 Connecticut cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 162 have had fewer than Newtown.

  • May 15, 2018: thunderstorm wind 8 miles from the centre of Newtown — 1 killed, 1 injured, $5,000 damage.

  • September 20, 1997: thunderstorm wind 8 miles from the centre of Newtown — 3 injured.

  • May 24, 2009: lightning strike 8 miles from the centre of Newtown — 3 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

Flood insurance policyholders in Newtown's ZIP code 06470 have filed 25 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $156,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 40% 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, 38 have fewer than Newtown.

Fairfield County, which includes Newtown, has been named in 33 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1978, 18 of them major disasters (by incident: 11 hurricanes, 8 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.

Cities near Newtown