Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Smithfield, RI

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Woonsocket, RI, 6 miles north of Smithfield at 110 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 84°F and low of 63°F; January is the coolest, at 38°F and 19°F. December is the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and May and July the driest at 3.6 inches; the year adds up to 52.0 inches over 83 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 49% of the year's precipitation (25.4 of 52.0 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 54 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (22); a normal September there has highs of 75°F and 4.2 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 14 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 129 nights a year. Snowfall averages 41.5 inches a year, most of it in January. That 52.0 inches is more than at 7 of the 10 Rhode Island stations used on this site (70%). Johnston, 5 miles south, has its own station (Providence T F Green Airport, RI): 47.7 inches a year, 4.3 less than here, and the same July average high, 84°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Providence, RI, 9 miles southeast, averaged 72°F in August and 36°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Providence tide gauge, 9 miles from Smithfield, has risen 1.04 ± 0.05 inches per decade from 1938 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 10.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 58 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 270 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Smithfield: 131 thunderstorm wind reports, 65 floods, 52 flash floods, 13 lightning strikes and 9 heavy rain events. They killed 0 people and injured 10, and the NWS estimated $28.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on June 22, 1997. September has had the most flash floods, 20 of 52. Of the 49 Rhode Island cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 39 have had fewer than Smithfield.

Flood insurance policyholders in Smithfield's ZIP code 02917 have filed 27 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $234,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The year with the most claims was 2010, with 11. 52% 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, 8 have fewer than Smithfield.