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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Windham, ME

Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.

Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated

36 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Windham, Maine since 1851, 3 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Elsa in 2021. Since 1950, 18 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
3

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
33

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
18

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
0

no recorded deaths

What the records show for Windham

The strongest storm to pass near Windham was an unnamed storm in 1869, a Category 2 hurricane with 101 mph winds when its centre passed 17 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1869, whose centre came within 8 miles. The record near Windham begins with an unnamed storm in 1858; the most recent system was Elsa in 2021, a tropical storm 66 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1890s, with 5 systems. Of the 36 systems, 3 have come since 2000. Of the 160 Maine cities on this site, 38% have more hurricanes within 75 miles than Windham. The highest rating among the 18 tornadoes within 25 miles is F1 or EF1, reached 9 times; the most recent, on July 1, 2017, came within 24 miles. Of the 18, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 11 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 14. The most recent tornado was on July 11, 2020. Windham has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 60% of the 160 Maine cities. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 65 times since 1964, with stones up to 2 inches (hen egg size). Windham has more hail reports within 10 miles than 98% of the 160 Maine cities.

Compare Windham's storm record with another city →

Tropical storms and hurricanes near Windham

Tropical systems that passed within 75 miles of Windham, Maine, newest first
YearStormClosestStrength when closestPeak
2021ElsaJul 966 miTropical storm (48 mph)Category 1
2013AndreaJun 875 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
2008HannaSep 770 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 1
1999FloydSep 1723 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 4
1996BerthaJul 1434 miTropical storm (66 mph)Category 3
1991BobAug 1936 miTropical storm (71 mph)Category 3
1985GloriaSep 2739 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 4
1979DavidSep 658 miTropical storm (51 mph)Category 5
1971DoriaAug 2858 miTropical storm (52 mph)Tropical storm
1961EstherSep 2626 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 5
1961Unnamed 1961 stormSep 152 miTropical storm (68 mph)Tropical storm
1960DonnaSep 136 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 4
1960BrendaJul 3122 miTropical storm (44 mph)Tropical storm
1954CarolAug 3143 miCategory 1 (83 mph)Category 3
1949Unnamed 1949 stormAug 2972 miTropical storm (52 mph)Category 4
1944Unnamed 1944 stormSep 1557 miTropical storm (68 mph)Category 5
1934Unnamed 1934 stormSep 916 miTropical storm (41 mph)Category 2
1923Unnamed 1923 stormOct 1953 miTropical storm (46 mph)Tropical storm
1916Unnamed 1916 stormJul 2137 miTropical storm (51 mph)Category 2
1916Unnamed 1916 stormMay 1719 miTropical storm (53 mph)Tropical storm
1908Unnamed 1908 stormMay 316 miTropical storm (40 mph)Category 1
1902Unnamed 1902 stormJun 1738 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1899Unnamed 1899 stormNov 138 miTropical storm (51 mph)Category 2
1897Unnamed 1897 stormSep 2420 miTropical storm (39 mph)Tropical storm
1896Unnamed 1896 stormSep 1113 miTropical storm (53 mph)Category 3
1894Unnamed 1894 stormOct 1018 miTropical storm (55 mph)Category 3
1893Unnamed 1893 stormAug 2933 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 3
1888Unnamed 1888 stormSep 1261 miTropical storm (40 mph)Tropical storm
1880Unnamed 1880 stormOct 2374 miTropical storm (69 mph)Tropical storm
1878Unnamed 1878 stormOct 2472 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 2
1874Unnamed 1874 stormSep 303 miTropical storm (69 mph)Category 1
1869Unnamed 1869 stormOct 417 miCategory 2 (101 mph)Category 2
1869Unnamed 1869 stormSep 98 miCategory 1 (83 mph)Category 3
1861Unnamed 1861 stormNov 312 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
1861Unnamed 1861 stormSep 2828 miTropical storm (58 mph)Category 1
1858Unnamed 1858 stormSep 1619 miTropical storm (67 mph)Category 2

Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Windham: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.

Tornadoes within 25 miles of Windham

By decade

  • 2020s1
  • 2010s8
  • 2000s2
  • 1970s4
  • 1960s1
  • 1950s2
Strongest tornadoes near Windham, Maine
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Jul 1, 2017EF121 mi2.48 mi0 / 1
Jul 1, 2017EF124 mi0.32 mi0 / 0
Jul 28, 2014EF115 mi1.71 mi0 / 0
Jul 21, 2010EF122 mi1.97 mi0 / 0
Jun 22, 1974F117 mi0.1 mi0 / 1
Jul 24, 1972F111 mi0.1 mi0 / 0
Oct 3, 1970F115 mi1.2 mi0 / 0
Jul 9, 1962F17 mi11.3 mi0 / 0
Jul 11, 1958F114 mi1 mi0 / 0
Jul 11, 2020EF017 mi4.86 mi0 / 0
Jul 1, 2017EF021 mi2.54 mi0 / 0
Jul 1, 2017EF09 mi3.42 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 18, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Windham

The Storm Prediction Center has 65 hail reports within 10 miles of Windham since 1964, made on 36 separate days. Of these, 36 were 1 inch across or larger, and 2 reached 2 inches. The largest size, 2 inches (hen egg size), was reported on 2 days, most recently September 11, 2013. The most recent report is from August 24, 2020. June has the most reports, 25.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.

Weather by month in Windham

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Gray, ME, 10 miles northeast of Windham at 378 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 79°F and low of 60°F; January is the coolest, at 30°F and 14°F. October is the wettest at 5.4 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 50.1 inches over 84 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 53% of the year's precipitation (26.6 of 50.1 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 36 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (16); a normal September there has highs of 70°F and 4.3 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 144 nights a year. Snowfall averages 84.0 inches a year, most of it in January. That 50.1 inches is more than at 38 of the 47 Maine stations used on this site (81%). Raymond, 8 miles north, has its own station (Poland, ME): 49.2 inches a year, 0.9 less than here, and a July average high of 78°F against 79°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Portland, ME, 14 miles southeast, averaged 63°F in August and 36°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Portland tide gauge, 14 miles from Windham, has risen 0.78 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1912 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 7.8 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 37 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Gray, ME
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Snow inWater °F
Jan30143.6720.639
Feb33163.3720.436
Mar41254.0716.239
Apr53344.474.744
May64443.680.050
Jun73544.780.057
Jul79603.770.061
Aug78593.860.063
Sep70524.360.062
Oct58415.470.657
Nov46314.773.850
Dec35214.6817.743
Year553850.18484.050

Averages for 1991–2020 at Gray, ME (378 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Portland, ME, from NOAA Tides & Currents. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.

Maine weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Windham

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 150 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Windham: 104 thunderstorm wind reports, 37 floods, 7 flash floods and 2 lightning strikes. They killed 2 people and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $1.2 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on July 20, 2025. August has had the most flash floods, 3 of 7. Of the 154 Maine cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 102 have had fewer than Windham.

  • July 18, 2008: lightning strike 9 miles from the centre of Windham — 2 killed.

  • June 23, 2013: lightning strike 10 miles from the centre of Windham — 1 injured.

  • August 24, 1998: thunderstorm wind 10 miles from the centre of Windham — $347,000 damage.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.

Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings

Flood insurance policyholders in Windham's ZIP code 04062 have filed 16 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $89,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 19% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 61 Maine cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 17 have fewer than Windham.

Cumberland County, which includes Windham, has been named in 39 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1970, 26 of them major disasters (by incident: 12 severe storms, 8 floods, 8 snowstorms, 4 hurricanes). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storm, on May 24, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Cumberland County a Relatively Low rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for lightning; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes, hail, coastal flooding and strong wind; Relatively Low for inland flooding and heat waves; Very Low for tornadoes. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $69.2 million a year, the highest of 16 Maine counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $26.9 million (39%), is from inland flooding.

Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.

Cities near Windham