Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Salem, NJ

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Wilmington New Castle Co Airport, DE, 12 miles northwest of Salem at 79 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 68°F; January is the coolest, at 41°F and 26°F. June is the wettest at 4.7 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.8 inches; the year adds up to 45.5 inches over 75 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (24.3 of 45.5 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 44 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (16); a normal September there has highs of 79°F and 4.4 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 22 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 92 nights a year. Snowfall averages 20.2 inches a year, most of it in February. That 45.5 inches is more than at 10 of the 51 New Jersey stations used on this site (20%). Woodstown, 9 miles northeast, has its own station (Woodstown Pittsgrov 4E, NJ): 46.7 inches a year, 1.2 more than here, and a July average high of 89°F against 87°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Reedy Point, DE, 7 miles west, averaged 83°F in July and 38°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from July to August. Sea level at the Reedy Point tide gauge, 7 miles from Salem, has risen 1.55 ± 0.09 inches per decade from 1956 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 15.5 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 93 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 128 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Salem: 97 thunderstorm wind reports, 17 flash floods, 6 heavy rain events, 4 floods and 4 lightning strikes. They killed 3 people and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $44.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 82 mph, on July 12, 2022. August has had the most flash floods, 7 of 17. Of the 455 New Jersey cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 52 have had fewer than Salem.

Flood insurance policyholders in Salem's ZIP code 08079 have filed 89 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $275,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1980: 19 claims (21% of all) and $29,000, then Hurricane Irene in 2011 with 11 and Hurricane Floyd in 1999 with 10. 71% 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, 195 have fewer than Salem.