Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit South Hamilton, MA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Beverly, MA, 2 miles southeast of South Hamilton at 65 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 80°F and low of 60°F; January is the coolest, at 37°F and 18°F. October is the wettest at 5.0 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 3.4 inches; the year adds up to 48.0 inches over 84 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 49% of the year's precipitation (23.6 of 48.0 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 46 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (18); a normal September there has highs of 72°F and 3.8 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 5 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 133 nights a year. Snowfall averages 51.4 inches a year, most of it in February. That 48.0 inches is more than at 26 of the 65 Massachusetts stations used on this site (40%). Beverly, 4 miles south, has its own station (Beverly Municipal Airport, MA): 44.9 inches a year, 3.1 less than here, and a July average high of 82°F against 80°F.

Sea level at the Boston tide gauge, 21 miles from South Hamilton, 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.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 196 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of South Hamilton: 123 thunderstorm wind reports, 40 floods, 17 lightning strikes and 16 flash floods. They killed 3 people and injured 5, and the NWS estimated $19.2 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 98 mph, on September 6, 2014. October has had the most flash floods, 5 of 16. Of the 339 Massachusetts cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 138 have had fewer than South Hamilton.

Flood insurance policyholders in South Hamilton's ZIP code 01982 have filed 14 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $100,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 57% 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, 33 have fewer than South Hamilton.