Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Southold, NY

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Bridgehampton, NY, 10 miles southeast of Southold at 42 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 81°F and low of 64°F; January is the coolest, at 39°F and 23°F. December is the wettest at 5.0 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 3.2 inches; the year adds up to 49.8 inches over 78 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 49% of the year's precipitation (24.3 of 49.8 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 60 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (22); a normal September there has highs of 73°F and 4.8 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 5 days a year, almost all from July to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 106 nights a year. Snowfall averages 26.8 inches a year, most of it in February. That 49.8 inches is more than at 121 of the 137 New York stations used on this site (88%). Mattituck, 8 miles southwest, has its own station (Riverhead Rsch Farm, NY): 47.3 inches a year, 2.5 less than here, and a July average high of 84°F against 81°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Montauk, NY, 24 miles east, averaged 72°F in August and 39°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Montauk tide gauge, 24 miles from Southold, has risen 1.42 ± 0.05 inches per decade from 1947 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 14.2 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 85 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 61 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Southold: 42 thunderstorm wind reports, 15 flash floods and 4 lightning strikes. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $671,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on June 23, 2008. August has had the most flash floods, 7 of 15. Of the 798 New York cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 228 have had fewer than Southold.

Flood insurance policyholders in Southold's ZIP code 11971 have filed 346 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $3.8 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Sandy in 2012: 93 claims (27% of all) and $2.5 million, then December Storm - Nor'easter in 1992 with 48 and March 2010 Nor'easter in 2010 with 32. 78% 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, 471 have fewer than Southold.