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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Scituate, MA

Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.

Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated

50 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Scituate, Massachusetts since 1851, 11 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 22 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
11

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
39

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
22

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
0

2 deaths in all

What the records show for Scituate

The strongest storm to pass near Scituate was Edna in 1954, a Category 2 hurricane with 105 mph winds when its centre passed 39 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1944, whose centre crossed the city. The record near Scituate begins with an unnamed storm in 1851; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 70 miles away. Of the 50 systems, 7 have come since 2000. Scituate has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 49% of the 346 Massachusetts cities on this site. The highest rating among the 22 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2 or EF2, reached 3 times; the most recent, on July 28, 2014, came within 19 miles. The deadliest, an F1 on August 9, 1972, killed 1 person. Of the 22, one had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 6 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 8. The most recent tornado was on August 18, 2023. Of the 346 Massachusetts cities, 83% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Scituate. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 18 times since 1956, with stones up to 2 inches (hen egg size). Of the 346 Massachusetts cities, 90% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Scituate.

Compare Scituate's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Scituate

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Scituate, Massachusetts, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2021IdaSep 270 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 4
2021ElsaJul 91 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
2013AndreaJun 84 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
2008HannaSep 710 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
2007BarryJun 49 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
2006BerylJul 2169 miTropical storm (51 mph)Tropical storm
2004HermineAug 3149 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1999FloydSep 1746 miTropical storm (55 mph)Category 4
1996JosephineOct 962 miTropical storm (52 mph)Tropical storm
1996BerthaJul 1435 miTropical storm (68 mph)Category 3
1991BobAug 192 miCategory 1 (87 mph)Category 3
1966AlmaJun 1419 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 3
1961EstherSep 2632 miTropical storm (54 mph)Category 5
1961Unnamed 1961 stormSep 1547 miTropical storm (66 mph)Tropical storm
1960DonnaSep 1241 miCategory 1 (74 mph)Category 4
1960BrendaJul 3063 miTropical storm (47 mph)Tropical storm
1959CindyJul 1125 miTropical storm (56 mph)Category 1
1954EdnaSep 1139 miCategory 2 (105 mph)Category 3
1954CarolAug 3147 miCategory 2 (101 mph)Category 3
1952Unnamed 1952 stormFeb 471 miTropical storm (62 mph)Tropical storm
1944Unnamed 1944 stormSep 15overheadCategory 1 (74 mph)Category 5
1934Unnamed 1934 stormSep 966 miTropical storm (48 mph)Category 2
1934Unnamed 1934 stormJun 2043 miTropical storm (47 mph)Category 2
1923Unnamed 1923 stormOct 198 miTropical storm (53 mph)Tropical storm
1916Unnamed 1916 stormJul 212 miTropical storm (60 mph)Category 2
1916Unnamed 1916 stormMay 1738 miTropical storm (58 mph)Tropical storm
1915Unnamed 1915 stormAug 555 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1908Unnamed 1908 stormMay 3130 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1907Unnamed 1907 stormJun 3019 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1904Unnamed 1904 stormSep 1526 miCategory 1 (86 mph)Category 1
1902Unnamed 1902 stormJun 1717 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1897Unnamed 1897 stormSep 2432 miTropical storm (45 mph)Tropical storm
1896Unnamed 1896 stormSep 105 miTropical storm (62 mph)Category 3
1894Unnamed 1894 stormOct 1048 miTropical storm (61 mph)Category 3
1889Unnamed 1889 stormSep 2542 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 2
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 2658 miCategory 1 (78 mph)Category 1
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 1210 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1888Unnamed 1888 stormAug 224 miTropical storm (49 mph)Category 3
1880Unnamed 1880 stormOct 2356 miTropical storm (69 mph)Tropical storm
1879Unnamed 1879 stormAug 1939 miCategory 1 (78 mph)Category 3
1878Unnamed 1878 stormOct 2440 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1877Unnamed 1877 stormOct 544 miTropical storm (61 mph)Category 3
1874Unnamed 1874 stormSep 3055 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 1
1872Unnamed 1872 stormOct 2716 miTropical storm (46 mph)Category 1
1869Unnamed 1869 stormOct 422 miCategory 2 (104 mph)Category 2
1869Unnamed 1869 stormSep 829 miCategory 2 (100 mph)Category 3
1861Unnamed 1861 stormNov 327 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
1861Unnamed 1861 stormSep 2848 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
1858Unnamed 1858 stormSep 1641 miCategory 1 (75 mph)Category 2
1851Unnamed 1851 stormOct 1946 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Scituate: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.

Tornadoes within 25 miles of Scituate

By decade

  • 2020s3
  • 2010s3
  • 1990s2
  • 1980s4
  • 1970s3
  • 1960s4
  • 1950s3
Strongest tornadoes near Scituate, Massachusetts
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Jul 28, 2014EF219 mi1.93 mi0 / 2
Nov 18, 1967F218 mi0.1 mi0 / 0
Nov 21, 1956F222 mi0.1 mi0 / 0
Aug 9, 1972F124 mi4.9 mi1 / 6
Aug 18, 2023EF110 mi0.35 mi0 / 0
Jul 29, 2023EF125 mi0.16 mi0 / 0
Jul 10, 1989F116 mi0.1 mi0 / 1
Sep 16, 1986F11 mi0.1 mi0 / 0
Sep 6, 1973F124 mi1.1 mi0 / 0
Nov 7, 1971F125 mi0.1 mi0 / 0
Jul 4, 1964F17 mi2.3 mi0 / 0
May 19, 1964F123 mi2 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 22, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Scituate

The Storm Prediction Center has 18 hail reports within 10 miles of Scituate since 1956, made on 14 separate days. Of these, 8 were 1 inch across or larger, and one reached 2 inches. The largest, 2 inches (hen egg size), fell on July 2, 2004. The most recent report is from July 14, 2022. July has the most reports, 8.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.

Weather by month in Scituate

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Hingham, MA, 8 miles west of Scituate at 35 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 83°F and low of 63°F; January is the coolest, at 38°F and 22°F. March is the wettest at 5.4 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 3.6 inches; the year adds up to 52.3 inches over 84 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 48% of the year's precipitation (24.9 of 52.3 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 50 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (19); a normal September there has highs of 74°F and 3.9 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 13 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 115 nights a year. Snowfall averages 50.9 inches a year, most of it in January. That 52.3 inches is more than at 56 of the 65 Massachusetts stations used on this site (86%). Marshfield, 7 miles southeast, has its own station (Plymouth-Kingston, MA): 52.7 inches a year, 0.4 more than here, and a July average high of 84°F against 83°F.

Sea level at the Boston tide gauge, 18 miles from Scituate, has risen 1.17 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1921 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.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Hingham, MA
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Snow in
Jan38224.5714.8
Feb40234.0714.5
Mar47295.4710.3
Apr58384.681.7
May69483.870.0
Jun77574.070.0
Jul83633.660.0
Aug82623.860.0
Sep74553.960.0
Oct63445.270.1
Nov52354.470.7
Dec43275.188.8
Year604252.38450.9

Averages for 1991–2020 at Hingham, MA (35 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.

Massachusetts weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Scituate

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 100 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Scituate: 69 thunderstorm wind reports, 15 floods, 9 lightning strikes and 7 flash floods. They killed 1 person and injured 5, and the NWS estimated $16.6 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 104 mph, on June 22, 1997. July has had the most flash floods, 6 of 7. Of the 339 Massachusetts cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 69 have had fewer than Scituate.

  • June 22, 1997: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Scituate — 1 killed.

  • June 20, 2010: thunderstorm wind 8 miles from the centre of Scituate — 2 injured, $50,000 damage.

  • June 20, 2008: lightning strike 1 mile from the centre of Scituate — 1 injured.

    NWS: “A 49 year old man was walking on the beach when he was struck by lightning and knocked unconscious. His wife was with him but was unharmed.”

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.

Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings

Flood insurance policyholders in Scituate's ZIP code 02066 have filed 3,196 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $60.7 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from The "Halloween" Storm in 1991: 709 claims (22% of all) and $24.6 million, then Flooding in 1978 with 560 and December Storm - Nor'easter in 1992 with 459. 59% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 229 Massachusetts cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 228 have fewer than Scituate.

Flood insurance claims in Scituate by named event
EventClaimsPaid
The "Halloween" Storm1991709$24.6 million
Flooding1978560$5.6 million
December Storm - Nor'easter1992459$5.6 million
Not a named storm1979106$267,000
April 2007 Nor'easter200733$963,000
March 2010 Nor'easter201013$31,000

Plymouth County, which includes Scituate, has been named in 32 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1972, 21 of them major disasters (by incident: 9 hurricanes, 7 severe storms, 6 snowstorms, 5 floods). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storm and Snowstorm, on April 18, 2022. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Plymouth County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for coastal flooding; Relatively High for strong wind and lightning; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes, inland flooding and heat waves; Relatively Low for tornadoes; Very Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $114.3 million a year, the 6th highest of 14 Massachusetts counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $71.4 million (62%), is from inland flooding.

Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.

Cities near Scituate