Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Norton, MA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Norton W, MA, 2 miles northeast of Norton at 95 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 83°F and low of 62°F; January is the coolest, at 37°F and 18°F. March is the wettest at 5.4 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 3.5 inches; the year adds up to 52.4 inches over 83 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 48% of the year's precipitation (25.3 of 52.4 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 55 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (21); a normal September there has highs of 73°F and 4.1 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 12 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 147 nights a year. Snowfall averages 49.5 inches a year, most of it in January. That 52.4 inches is more than at 58 of the 65 Massachusetts stations used on this site (89%). Taunton, 6 miles southeast, has its own station (Taunton, MA): 48.9 inches a year, 3.5 less than here, and a July average high of 84°F against 83°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Providence, RI, 16 miles southwest, averaged 72°F in August and 36°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Providence tide gauge, 16 miles from Norton, has risen 1.04 ± 0.05 inches per decade from 1938 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 10.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 58 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 180 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Norton: 122 thunderstorm wind reports, 35 floods, 14 flash floods, 7 lightning strikes and 2 heavy rain events. They killed 0 people and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $12.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on August 10, 2012. July has had the most flash floods, 5 of 14. Of the 339 Massachusetts cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 121 have had fewer than Norton.

Flood insurance policyholders in Norton's ZIP code 02766 have filed 58 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $306,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1998: 20 claims (34% of all) and $155,000, then March 2010 Nor'easter in 2010 with 11. 71% 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, 143 have fewer than Norton.