Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Old Bridge, NJ

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Freehold-Marlboro, NJ, 7 miles southeast of Old Bridge at 194 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 66°F; January is the coolest, at 42°F and 23°F. July and December are the wettest at 4.7 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.1 inches; the year adds up to 48.5 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 (25.0 of 48.5 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 47 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (20); a normal September there has highs of 78°F and 4.2 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 28 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 106 nights a year. That 48.5 inches is more than at 27 of the 51 New Jersey stations used on this site (53%). Spotswood, 3 miles west, has its own station (New Brunswick 3 SE, NJ): 49.5 inches a year, 1.0 more than here, and the same July average high, 87°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Sandy Hook, NJ, 18 miles east, averaged 77°F in July and 38°F in January over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Sandy Hook tide gauge, 18 miles from Old Bridge, has risen 1.68 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1932 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 16.8 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 105 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 372 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Old Bridge: 226 thunderstorm wind reports, 93 flash floods, 19 floods, 17 heavy rain events and 17 lightning strikes. They killed 2 people and injured 42, and the NWS estimated $32.7 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 90 mph, on August 7, 2000. July has had the most flash floods, 36 of 93. Of the 455 New Jersey cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 244 have had fewer than Old Bridge.

Flood insurance policyholders in Old Bridge's ZIP code 08857 have filed 123 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $3.3 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Sandy in 2012: 36 claims (29% of all) and $2.0 million, then Hurricane Irene in 2011 with 29 and March 2010 Nor'easter in 2010 with 10. 85% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 395 New Jersey cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 228 have fewer than Old Bridge.