Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Princeton, NJ

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Hightstown 2 W, NJ, 8 miles southeast of Princeton at 100 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 63°F; January is the coolest, at 41°F and 21°F. July is the wettest at 4.8 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.6 inches; the year adds up to 47.6 inches over 80 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (25.2 of 47.6 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 44 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (17); a normal September there has highs of 78°F and 4.2 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 26 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 114 nights a year. Snowfall averages 23.7 inches a year, most of it in February. That 47.6 inches is more than at 21 of the 51 New Jersey stations used on this site (41%). Skillman, 5 miles northwest, has its own station (Wertsville 4 NE, NJ): 51.1 inches a year, 3.5 more than here, and a July average high of 85°F against 87°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Newbold, PA, 16 miles south, averaged 80°F in July and 37°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July. Sea level at the Bergen Point tide gauge, 33 miles from Princeton, has risen 1.86 ± 0.13 inches per decade from 1981 to 2024, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 18.6 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 114 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 396 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Princeton: 239 thunderstorm wind reports, 59 floods, 54 flash floods, 26 heavy rain events and 18 lightning strikes. They killed 2 people and injured 14, and the NWS estimated $87.8 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 79 mph, on October 4, 2000. August has had the most flash floods, 23 of 54. Of the 455 New Jersey cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 192 have had fewer than Princeton.

Flood insurance policyholders in Princeton's 3 ZIP codes have filed 274 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $9.4 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Irene in 2011: 70 claims (26% of all) and $3.3 million, then Hurricane Ida in 2021 with 41 and April 2007 Nor'easter in 2007 with 19. 65% 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, 289 have fewer than Princeton.