Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit South Salem, NY

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Danbury Municipal Airport, CT, 9 miles north of South Salem at 457 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 82°F and low of 62°F; January is the coolest, at 36°F and 18°F. September is the wettest at 4.8 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 2.7 inches; the year adds up to 48.1 inches over 78 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 56% of the year's precipitation (26.7 of 48.1 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 47 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (21); a normal September there has highs of 74°F and 4.8 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 8 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 134 nights a year. That 48.1 inches is more than at 108 of the 137 New York stations used on this site (79%). Pound Ridge, 4 miles southwest, has its own station (Stamford 5 N, CT): 51.5 inches a year, 3.4 more than here, and a July average high of 85°F against 82°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Bridgeport, CT, 19 miles east, averaged 76°F in August and 39°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Bridgeport tide gauge, 19 miles from South Salem, has risen 1.35 ± 0.08 inches per decade from 1964 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 13.5 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 81 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 222 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of South Salem: 170 thunderstorm wind reports, 30 flash floods, 17 floods, 3 lightning strikes and 2 heavy rain events. They killed 2 people and injured 6, and the NWS estimated $619,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on May 15, 2018. September has had the most flash floods, 10 of 30. Of the 798 New York cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 453 have had fewer than South Salem.

Flood insurance policyholders in South Salem's ZIP code 10590 have filed 14 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $124,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 36% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 549 New York cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 57 have fewer than South Salem.