Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Portsmouth, RI

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Tiverton, RI, 3 miles northeast of Portsmouth at 90 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 65°F; January is the coolest, at 39°F and 24°F. March is the wettest at 5.6 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 3.0 inches; the year adds up to 49.4 inches over 83 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 47% of the year's precipitation (23.0 of 49.4 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 55 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (19); a normal September there has highs of 77°F and 3.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 13 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 105 nights a year. Snowfall averages 38.1 inches a year, most of it in February. That 49.4 inches is more than at 4 of the 10 Rhode Island stations used on this site (40%). Middletown, 7 miles south, has its own station (Newport State Airport, RI): 42.1 inches a year, 7.3 less than here, and a July average high of 80°F against 85°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Newport, RI, 8 miles southwest, averaged 72°F in August and 39°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Newport tide gauge, 8 miles from Portsmouth, has risen 1.17 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1930 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 130 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Portsmouth: 50 floods, 42 thunderstorm wind reports, 26 flash floods and 12 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $12.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 76 mph, on February 25, 2016. July has had the most flash floods, 9 of 26. Of the 49 Rhode Island cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 26 have had fewer than Portsmouth.

Flood insurance policyholders in Portsmouth's ZIP code 02871 have filed 209 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $785,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Bob in 1991: 62 claims (30% of all) and $300,000, then March 2010 Nor'easter in 2010 with 36 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012 with 11. 58% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 38 Rhode Island cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 26 have fewer than Portsmouth.