Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit North Reading, MA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Middleton, MA, 4 miles east of North Reading at 110 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 81°F and low of 61°F; January is the coolest, at 35°F and 16°F. October and December are the wettest at 4.8 inches of precipitation on average and February and August the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 48.2 inches over 85 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 50% of the year's precipitation (24.0 of 48.2 inches). September has brought the most of the 47 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (18); a normal September there has highs of 73°F and 3.8 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 16 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 129 nights a year. Snowfall averages 47.8 inches a year, most of it in January. That 48.2 inches is more than at 29 of the 65 Massachusetts stations used on this site (45%). Reading, 4 miles south, has its own station (Reading, MA): 49.9 inches a year, 1.7 more than here, and a July average high of 84°F against 81°F.

Sea level at the Boston tide gauge, 16 miles from North Reading, has risen 1.17 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1921 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 11.7 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 68 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 312 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of North Reading: 188 thunderstorm wind reports, 72 floods, 29 flash floods and 23 lightning strikes. They killed 0 people and injured 5, and the NWS estimated $12.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 90 mph, on July 11, 2006. July has had the most flash floods, 12 of 29. Of the 339 Massachusetts cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 256 have had fewer than North Reading.

Flood insurance policyholders in North Reading's ZIP code 01864 have filed 117 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $790,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1996: 34 claims (29% of all) and $136,000, then March 2010 Nor'easter in 2010 with 24 and Not a named storm in 1982 with 13. The year with the most claims was 2010, with 26. 62% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 229 Massachusetts cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 172 have fewer than North Reading.