Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Purchase, NY

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Westchester Co Airport, NY, 2 miles north of Purchase at 379 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 83°F and low of 65°F; January is the coolest, at 37°F and 22°F. September is the wettest at 4.9 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.5 inches; the year adds up to 47.7 inches over 77 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (25.6 of 47.7 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 45 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (20); a normal September there has highs of 74°F and 4.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 10 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 105 nights a year. That 47.7 inches is more than at 107 of the 137 New York stations used on this site (78%). White Plains, 3 miles west, has its own station (Dobbs Ferry-Ardsley, NY): 51.3 inches a year, 3.6 more than here, and a July average high of 86°F against 83°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Kings Point, NY, 16 miles south, averaged 74°F in August and 38°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Kings Point tide gauge, 16 miles from Purchase, has risen 1.08 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1931 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 10.8 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 62 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 371 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Purchase: 163 flash floods, 161 thunderstorm wind reports, 37 floods, 9 lightning strikes and 1 heavy rain event. They killed 6 people and injured 6, and the NWS estimated $12.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on July 7, 2009. Of the 798 New York cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 710 have had fewer than Purchase.

Flood insurance policyholders in Purchase's ZIP code 10577 have filed 40 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $695,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Ida in 2021: 11 claims (28% of all) and $439,000. 60% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 549 New York cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 245 have fewer than Purchase.