Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit South Dartmouth, MA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is New Bedford Coop, MA, 2 miles east of South Dartmouth at 18 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 84°F and low of 67°F; January is the coolest, at 38°F and 22°F. March is the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 3.6 inches; the year adds up to 52.3 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 (25.6 of 52.3 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 60 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (21); a normal September there has highs of 75°F and 4.2 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 104 nights a year. Snowfall averages 32.5 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%). Dartmouth, 4 miles northwest, has its own station (New Bedford Municipal Airport, MA): 45.8 inches a year, 6.5 less than here, and a July average high of 83°F against 84°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Fall River, MA, 14 miles northwest, averaged 75°F in July and 38°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Woods Hole tide gauge, 15 miles from South Dartmouth, has risen 1.24 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1932 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 12.4 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 73 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 133 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of South Dartmouth: 51 thunderstorm wind reports, 46 floods, 18 flash floods and 18 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $1.6 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on June 30, 1998. August has had the most flash floods, 6 of 18. Of the 339 Massachusetts cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 157 have had fewer than South Dartmouth.

Flood insurance policyholders in South Dartmouth's ZIP code 02748 have filed 137 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $921,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Bob in 1991: 55 claims (40% of all) and $488,000. 50% 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, 177 have fewer than South Dartmouth.