Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Providence, RI

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Providence T F Green Airport, RI, 7 miles south of Providence at 60 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 84°F and low of 65°F; January is the coolest, at 38°F and 22°F. March is the wettest at 4.9 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 2.9 inches; the year adds up to 47.7 inches over 79 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 48% of the year's precipitation (23.0 of 47.7 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 75°F and 4.2 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 109 nights a year. Snowfall averages 36.6 inches a year, most of it in February. That 47.7 inches is more than at 3 of the 10 Rhode Island stations used on this site (30%). North Providence, 3 miles northwest, has its own station (Woonsocket, RI): 52.0 inches a year, 4.3 more than here, and the same July average high, 84°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Providence, RI, 2 miles southeast, 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, 2 miles from Providence, 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 300 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Providence: 140 thunderstorm wind reports, 86 floods, 55 flash floods, 10 lightning strikes and 9 heavy rain events. They killed 1 person and injured 5, and the NWS estimated $58.0 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on June 26, 2024. July has had the most flash floods, 21 of 55. Of the 49 Rhode Island cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 44 have had fewer than Providence.

Flood insurance policyholders in Providence's 7 ZIP codes have filed 499 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $13.4 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from March 2010 Nor'easter in 2010: 91 claims (18% of all) and $3.6 million, then Not a named storm in 1979 with 80. 37% 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, 35 have fewer than Providence.