Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Westport, MA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Tiverton, RI, 6 miles west of Westport at 90 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 85°F and low of 65°F; January is the coolest, at 39°F and 24°F. March is the wettest at 5.6 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 3.0 inches; the year adds up to 49.4 inches over 83 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 47% of the year's precipitation (23.0 of 49.4 inches); the other six months are wetter. September has brought the most of the 58 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (19); a normal September there has highs of 77°F and 3.9 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 105 nights a year. Snowfall averages 38.1 inches a year, most of it in February. That 49.4 inches is more than at 42 of the 65 Massachusetts stations used on this site (65%). Dartmouth, 6 miles northeast, has its own station (New Bedford Municipal Airport, MA): 45.8 inches a year, 3.6 less than here, and a July average high of 83°F against 85°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Fall River, MA, 8 miles northwest, averaged 75°F in July and 38°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Newport tide gauge, 14 miles from Westport, has risen 1.17 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1930 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 165 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Westport: 64 floods, 48 thunderstorm wind reports, 36 flash floods and 17 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $9.0 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on June 30, 1998. Of the 339 Massachusetts cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 280 have had fewer than Westport.

Flood insurance policyholders in Westport's ZIP code 02790 have filed 109 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $1.1 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Bob in 1991: 45 claims (41% of all) and $574,000, then Hurricane Sandy in 2012 with 12. 72% 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, 168 have fewer than Westport.