Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Saunderstown, RI

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Kingston 1 NW, RI, 5 miles west of Saunderstown at 115 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 80°F and low of 62°F; January is the coolest, at 38°F and 20°F. March is the wettest at 5.7 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 3.1 inches; the year adds up to 51.3 inches over 83 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 48% of the year's precipitation (24.4 of 51.3 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 59 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (22); a normal September there has highs of 72°F and 4.3 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 3 days a year, almost all from July. Lows fall below freezing on about 130 nights a year. That 51.3 inches is more than at 5 of the 10 Rhode Island stations used on this site (50%). Kingston, 4 miles southwest, has its own station (Kingston 1 W, RI): 51.7 inches a year, 0.4 more than here, and the same July average high, 80°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Newport, RI, 7 miles east, averaged 72°F in August and 39°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Newport tide gauge, 7 miles from Saunderstown, has risen 1.17 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1930 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 11.7 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 68 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 55 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Saunderstown: 28 thunderstorm wind reports, 16 floods, 8 flash floods and 3 lightning strikes. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $3.8 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 75 mph, on August 25, 2020. July has had the most flash floods, 3 of 8. Of the 49 Rhode Island cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 10 have had fewer than Saunderstown.

Flood insurance policyholders in Saunderstown's ZIP code 02874 have filed 20 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1991, and were paid $146,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 60% 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, 6 have fewer than Saunderstown.