Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Osterville, MA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Hyannis, MA, 5 miles northeast of Osterville at 60 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 78°F and low of 64°F; January is the coolest, at 39°F and 22°F. March is the wettest at 4.8 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 45.7 inches over 79 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 47% of the year's precipitation (21.5 of 45.7 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 65 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (20); a normal September there has highs of 71°F and 3.8 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 2 days a year, almost all from July. Lows fall below freezing on about 101 nights a year. Snowfall averages 21.5 inches a year, most of it in January. That 45.7 inches is more than at 15 of the 65 Massachusetts stations used on this site (23%). Barnstable, 7 miles northeast, has its own station (Hyannis Barnstable Municipal Airport, MA): 44.8 inches a year, 0.9 less than here, and a July average high of 81°F against 78°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Woods Hole, MA, 17 miles southwest, averaged 74°F in August and 36°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Woods Hole tide gauge, 17 miles from Osterville, has risen 1.24 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1932 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 12.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 73 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 62 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Osterville: 40 thunderstorm wind reports, 9 floods, 6 lightning strikes, 5 flash floods and 2 heavy rain events. They killed 0 people and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $300,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on September 2, 2021. July has had the most flash floods, 5 of 5. Of the 339 Massachusetts cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 40 have had fewer than Osterville.

Flood insurance policyholders in Osterville's ZIP code 02655 have filed 44 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $397,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Bob in 1991: 21 claims (48% of all) and $245,000. 64% 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, 121 have fewer than Osterville.