NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit South Berwick, ME
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
37 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of South Berwick, Maine since 1851, 5 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Elsa in 2021. Since 1950, 21 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 1 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 5
- Tropical storms
- 32
- Tornadoes
- 21
- EF3 or stronger
- 1
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
1 deaths in all
What the records show for South Berwick
The strongest storm to pass near South Berwick was an unnamed storm in 1869, a Category 2 hurricane with 104 mph winds when its centre passed 30 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1869, whose centre came within 5 miles. The record near South Berwick begins with an unnamed storm in 1858; the most recent system was Elsa in 2021, a tropical storm 52 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1890s, with 5 systems. Of the 37 systems, 4 have come since 2000. South Berwick has more hurricanes within 75 miles than 88% of the 160 Maine cities on this site. The strongest of the 21 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F3 on June 9, 1953; its path came within 21 miles. The deadliest, an EF2 on July 24, 2008, killed 1 person. Of the 21, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 4 have come since 2000. June has had the most tornadoes, 6. The most recent tornado was on July 21, 2010. South Berwick has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 76% of the 160 Maine cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 57 times since 1986, with stones up to 2.75 inches (baseball size). South Berwick has more hail reports within 10 miles than 93% of the 160 Maine cities.
Compare South Berwick's storm record with another city →
Tropical storms and hurricanes near South Berwick
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | ElsaJul 9 | 52 mi | Tropical storm (49 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2013 | AndreaJun 8 | 56 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2008 | HannaSep 7 | 49 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2007 | BarryJun 5 | 58 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1999 | FloydSep 17 | 4 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1996 | BerthaJul 14 | 18 mi | Tropical storm (67 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1991 | BobAug 19 | 33 mi | Category 1 (78 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1985 | GloriaSep 27 | 43 mi | Category 1 (74 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1971 | DoriaAug 28 | 64 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1961 | EstherSep 26 | 40 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1961 | Unnamed 1961 stormSep 15 | 5 mi | Tropical storm (68 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1960 | DonnaSep 13 | 6 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1960 | BrendaJul 31 | 24 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1959 | CindyJul 11 | 71 mi | Tropical storm (55 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1954 | CarolAug 31 | 30 mi | Category 1 (90 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1944 | Unnamed 1944 stormSep 15 | 46 mi | Tropical storm (70 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1934 | Unnamed 1934 stormSep 9 | 26 mi | Tropical storm (44 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1923 | Unnamed 1923 stormOct 19 | 25 mi | Tropical storm (48 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1916 | Unnamed 1916 stormJul 21 | 25 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1916 | Unnamed 1916 stormMay 17 | 8 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1908 | Unnamed 1908 stormMay 31 | 4 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1907 | Unnamed 1907 stormJun 30 | 62 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormJun 17 | 28 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1899 | Unnamed 1899 stormNov 1 | 59 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1897 | Unnamed 1897 stormSep 24 | 6 mi | Tropical storm (41 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1896 | Unnamed 1896 stormSep 11 | 18 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1894 | Unnamed 1894 stormOct 10 | 17 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 29 | 48 mi | Tropical storm (59 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormSep 12 | 42 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormAug 22 | 61 mi | Tropical storm (51 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1878 | Unnamed 1878 stormOct 24 | 29 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1874 | Unnamed 1874 stormSep 30 | 12 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1869 | Unnamed 1869 stormOct 4 | 30 mi | Category 2 (104 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1869 | Unnamed 1869 stormSep 9 | 5 mi | Category 1 (89 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1861 | Unnamed 1861 stormNov 3 | 9 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1861 | Unnamed 1861 stormSep 28 | 9 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1858 | Unnamed 1858 stormSep 16 | 16 mi | Tropical storm (70 mph) | Category 2 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in South Berwick: 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 South Berwick
By decade
- 2010s1
- 2000s3
- 1990s3
- 1980s2
- 1970s5
- 1960s3
- 1950s4(1 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 9, 1953 | F3 | 21 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 5 |
| Jul 24, 2008 | EF2 | 24 mi | 50.46 mi | 1 / 2 |
| May 21, 2006 | F2 | 22 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Jul 6, 1999 | F2 | 21 mi | 7.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 22, 1981 | F2 | 15 mi | 8.7 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 3, 1976 | F2 | 8 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 10, 1966 | F2 | 14 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 14, 1963 | F2 | 4 mi | 8.7 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 19, 1957 | F2 | 9 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jul 21, 2010 | EF1 | 18 mi | 5.44 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 29, 2006 | F1 | 5 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 7, 1986 | F1 | 21 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 21, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in South Berwick
The Storm Prediction Center has 57 hail reports within 10 miles of South Berwick since 1986, made on 25 separate days. Of these, 29 were 1 inch across or larger, and 2 reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.75 inches (baseball size), fell on July 19, 2015. The most recent report is from August 26, 2024. June has the most reports, 31.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in South Berwick
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Rochester Skyhaven Airport, NH, 8 miles northwest of South Berwick at 323 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 82°F and low of 60°F; January is the coolest, at 33°F and 15°F. October is the wettest at 4.4 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.2 inches; the year adds up to 41.2 inches over 76 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 54% of the year's precipitation (22.3 of 41.2 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 37 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (15); a normal September there has highs of 73°F and 3.4 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 11 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 145 nights a year. That 41.2 inches is more than at 4 of the 47 Maine stations used on this site (9%). Rollinsford, NH, 3 miles west, has its own station (Durham 2 N, NH): 48.0 inches a year, 6.8 more than here, and a July average high of 81°F against 82°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Seavey Island, ME, 11 miles south, averaged 64°F in August and 37°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Seavey Island tide gauge, 11 miles from South Berwick, has risen 0.87 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1926 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 8.7 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 48 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 33 | 15 | 2.5 | 5 | 40 |
| Feb | 35 | 17 | 2.2 | 6 | 37 |
| Mar | 44 | 25 | 3.7 | 6 | 40 |
| Apr | 57 | 35 | 3.7 | 7 | 44 |
| May | 67 | 45 | 3.5 | 7 | 52 |
| Jun | 77 | 54 | 3.9 | 8 | 58 |
| Jul | 82 | 60 | 3.5 | 7 | 61 |
| Aug | 81 | 58 | 3.2 | 5 | 64 |
| Sep | 73 | 50 | 3.4 | 5 | 62 |
| Oct | 60 | 39 | 4.4 | 7 | 57 |
| Nov | 48 | 31 | 3.9 | 6 | 50 |
| Dec | 37 | 22 | 3.3 | 6 | 43 |
| Year | 58 | 38 | 41.2 | 76 | 51 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Rochester Skyhaven Airport, NH (323 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Seavey Island, ME, from NOAA Tides & Currents. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near South Berwick
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 69 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of South Berwick: 59 thunderstorm wind reports, 3 flash floods, 3 floods, 3 lightning strikes and 1 heavy rain event. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $2.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on June 24, 2010.
July 15, 2014: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of South Berwick — $1.4 million damage.
March 14, 2010: flood 8 miles from the centre of South Berwick — $349,000 damage.
July 18, 2008: lightning strike 10 miles from the centre of South Berwick — $200,000 damage.
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 South Berwick's ZIP code 03908 have filed 20 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $336,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 20% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 61 Maine cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 24 have fewer than South Berwick.
York County, which includes South Berwick, has been named in 42 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1970, 31 of them major disasters (by incident: 18 severe storms, 6 floods, 6 snowstorms, 4 hurricanes). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storm, on May 24, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives York County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for coastal flooding; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes, inland flooding and lightning; Relatively Low for tornadoes, strong wind and heat waves; Very Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $55.7 million a year, the 2nd highest of 16 Maine counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $25.9 million (46%), 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.