Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Rahway, NJ

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Cranford, NJ, 5 miles northwest of Rahway at 80 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 40°F and 25°F. July is the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 50.4 inches over 81 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 52% of the year's precipitation (26.2 of 50.4 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 45 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (21); a normal September there has highs of 77°F and 4.3 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 28 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 111 nights a year. Snowfall averages 26.3 inches a year, most of it in February. That 50.4 inches is more than at 35 of the 51 New Jersey stations used on this site (69%). Colonia, 2 miles southwest, has its own station (Plainfield, NJ): 48.7 inches a year, 1.7 less than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 86°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station The Battery, NY, 15 miles northeast, averaged 74°F in August and 39°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Bergen Point tide gauge, 7 miles from Rahway, 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 704 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Rahway: 370 thunderstorm wind reports, 231 flash floods, 67 floods, 28 lightning strikes and 8 heavy rain events. They killed 16 people and injured 16, and the NWS estimated $63.2 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 86 mph, on May 18, 2000. July has had the most flash floods, 89 of 231. Of the 455 New Jersey cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 350 have had fewer than Rahway.

Flood insurance policyholders in Rahway's ZIP code 07065 have filed 1,035 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $28.0 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Irene in 2011: 262 claims (25% of all) and $8.5 million, then Hurricane Ida in 2021 with 185 and Hurricane Floyd in 1999 with 99. 84% 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, 352 have fewer than Rahway.