NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Woodcliff Lake, NJ
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
45 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey since 1851, 7 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Ida in 2021. Since 1950, 41 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 7
- Tropical storms
- 38
- Tornadoes
- 41
- EF3 or stronger
- 0
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
11 deaths in all
What the records show for Woodcliff Lake
The strongest storm to pass near Woodcliff Lake was an unnamed storm in 1938, a Category 3 hurricane with 117 mph winds when its centre passed 60 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1893, whose centre came within 14 miles. The record near Woodcliff Lake begins with an unnamed storm in 1861; the most recent system was Ida in 2021, a tropical storm 51 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1890s, with 5 systems, 2 of them at hurricane strength. Of the 45 systems, 7 have come since 2000. Of the 455 New Jersey cities on this site, 46% have more hurricanes within 75 miles than Woodcliff Lake. The highest rating among the 41 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2, reached 4 times; the most recent, on July 12, 2006, came within 10 miles. The deadliest, an F1 on November 16, 1989, killed 9 people. Of the 41, one had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 14 have come since 2000. July has had the most tornadoes, 13. The most recent tornado was on July 29, 2021. Of the 455 New Jersey cities, 76% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Woodcliff Lake. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 89 times since 1985, with stones up to 2.5 inches (tennis ball size). Woodcliff Lake has more hail reports within 10 miles than 73% of the 455 New Jersey cities.
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Tropical storms and hurricanes near Woodcliff Lake
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | IdaSep 2 | 51 mi | Tropical storm (44 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2021 | ElsaJul 9 | 71 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2020 | IsaiasAug 4 | 45 mi | Tropical storm (62 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2020 | FayJul 11 | 58 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2013 | AndreaJun 8 | 71 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2011 | IreneAug 28 | 13 mi | Tropical storm (62 mph) | Category 3 |
| 2008 | HannaSep 7 | 37 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1999 | FloydSep 17 | 41 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1996 | BerthaJul 13 | 25 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1985 | GloriaSep 27 | 46 mi | Category 1 (86 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1985 | HenriSep 24 | 74 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1976 | BelleAug 10 | 44 mi | Tropical storm (70 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1972 | AgnesJun 22 | 16 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1971 | DoriaAug 28 | 12 mi | Tropical storm (59 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1968 | Unnamed 1968 stormSep 11 | 46 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1961 | Unnamed 1961 stormSep 15 | 50 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1960 | DonnaSep 12 | 64 mi | Category 2 (98 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1960 | BrendaJul 30 | 32 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1955 | DianeAug 19 | 32 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1952 | AbleSep 1 | 21 mi | Tropical storm (55 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1938 | Unnamed 1938 stormSep 21 | 60 mi | Category 3 (117 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1934 | Unnamed 1934 stormSep 9 | 55 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1934 | Unnamed 1934 stormJun 19 | 43 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1924 | Unnamed 1924 stormSep 30 | 12 mi | Tropical storm (67 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1916 | Unnamed 1916 stormMay 17 | 66 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormAug 4 | overhead | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1904 | Unnamed 1904 stormSep 15 | 72 mi | Category 1 (79 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1903 | Unnamed 1903 stormSep 16 | 66 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1902 | Unnamed 1902 stormJun 16 | 68 mi | Tropical storm (43 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1900 | Unnamed 1900 stormOct 14 | 42 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1899 | Unnamed 1899 stormNov 1 | 39 mi | Tropical storm (54 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1897 | Unnamed 1897 stormSep 24 | 68 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1894 | Unnamed 1894 stormOct 10 | 63 mi | Category 1 (86 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 29 | 33 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1893 | Unnamed 1893 stormAug 24 | 14 mi | Category 1 (84 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormSep 11 | 49 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormAug 22 | 16 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1882 | Unnamed 1882 stormSep 24 | 62 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1878 | Unnamed 1878 stormOct 23 | 71 mi | Category 1 (78 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1877 | Unnamed 1877 stormOct 5 | 66 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1874 | Unnamed 1874 stormSep 29 | 25 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1872 | Unnamed 1872 stormOct 26 | 32 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1866 | Unnamed 1866 stormOct 30 | 1 mi | Tropical storm (59 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1863 | Unnamed 1863 stormSep 19 | 1 mi | Tropical storm (49 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1861 | Unnamed 1861 stormSep 28 | 29 mi | Tropical storm (62 mph) | Category 1 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Woodcliff Lake: 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 Woodcliff Lake
By decade
- 2020s1
- 2010s10
- 2000s3
- 1990s6
- 1980s8
- 1970s11
- 1960s1
- 1950s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 12, 2006 | F2 | 10 mi | 10.1 mi | 0 / 6 |
| Jul 15, 1970 | F2 | 10 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 7, 1962 | F2 | 7 mi | 2.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 6, 1956 | F2 | 3 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 16, 1989 | F1 | 22 mi | 9.1 mi | 9 / 18 |
| Sep 16, 2010 | EF1 | 22 mi | 4 mi | 1 / 1 |
| Oct 31, 2019 | EF1 | 25 mi | 4.87 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 2, 2018 | EF1 | 18 mi | 4.28 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 2, 2018 | EF1 | 14 mi | 2.12 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 7, 2013 | EF1 | 6 mi | 1.25 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 25, 2010 | EF1 | 11 mi | 0.87 mi | 0 / 7 |
| Aug 12, 2005 | F1 | 25 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 41, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Woodcliff Lake
The Storm Prediction Center has 89 hail reports within 10 miles of Woodcliff Lake since 1985, made on 45 separate days. Of these, 53 were 1 inch across or larger, and 3 reached 2 inches. The largest, 2.5 inches (tennis ball size), fell on July 8, 2021. The most recent report is from August 3, 2024. July has the most reports, 35.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Woodcliff Lake
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Dobbs Ferry-Ardsley, NY, 12 miles east of Woodcliff Lake at 200 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 86°F and low of 64°F; January is the coolest, at 40°F and 23°F. December is the wettest at 4.7 inches of precipitation on average and February the driest at 3.3 inches; the year adds up to 51.3 inches over 80 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 51% of the year's precipitation (26.4 of 51.3 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 45 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (20); a normal September there has highs of 77°F and 4.6 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 19 days a year, almost all from May to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 109 nights a year. Snowfall averages 32.7 inches a year, most of it in February. That 51.3 inches is more than at 46 of the 51 New Jersey stations used on this site (90%). Township Of Washington, 2 miles south, has its own station (Teterboro Airport, NJ): 46.4 inches a year, 4.9 less than here, and a July average high of 87°F against 86°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Kings Point, NY, 21 miles southeast, averaged 74°F in August and 38°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Kings Point tide gauge, 21 miles from Woodcliff Lake, has risen 1.08 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1931 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 10.8 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 62 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 40 | 23 | 3.9 | 7 | 9.4 | 40 |
| Feb | 43 | 25 | 3.3 | 5 | 10.9 | 38 |
| Mar | 51 | 31 | 4.4 | 7 | 5.8 | 42 |
| Apr | 63 | 40 | 4.3 | 8 | 0.7 | 48 |
| May | 73 | 50 | 4.3 | 7 | 0.0 | 57 |
| Jun | 81 | 59 | 4.6 | 7 | 0.0 | 65 |
| Jul | 86 | 64 | 4.5 | 7 | 0.0 | 71 |
| Aug | 84 | 63 | 4.4 | 6 | 0.0 | 74 |
| Sep | 77 | 56 | 4.6 | 6 | 0.0 | 72 |
| Oct | 65 | 45 | 4.4 | 6 | 0.0 | 63 |
| Nov | 54 | 36 | 3.9 | 6 | 0.3 | 54 |
| Dec | 45 | 29 | 4.7 | 7 | 5.6 | 44 |
| Year | 63 | 43 | 51.3 | 80 | 32.7 | 56 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Dobbs Ferry-Ardsley, NY (200 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Kings Point, NY, 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.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Woodcliff Lake
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 699 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Woodcliff Lake: 332 thunderstorm wind reports, 221 flash floods, 107 floods and 39 lightning strikes. They killed 4 people and injured 20, and the NWS estimated $50.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 110 mph, on October 7, 2013. July has had the most flash floods, 67 of 221. Of the 455 New Jersey cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 347 have had fewer than Woodcliff Lake.
June 10, 2008: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Woodcliff Lake — 1 killed, 1 injured, $500 damage.
May 15, 2018: thunderstorm wind 4 miles from the centre of Woodcliff Lake — 1 killed, $5,000 damage.
July 18, 1997: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Woodcliff Lake — 1 killed.
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 Woodcliff Lake's ZIP code 07677 have filed 33 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $276,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 64% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 395 New Jersey cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 103 have fewer than Woodcliff Lake.
Bergen County, which includes Woodcliff Lake, has been named in 32 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 20 of them major disasters (by incident: 10 hurricanes, 6 severe storms, 5 floods, 4 snowstorms). The latest major disaster declaration was Remnants of Hurricane Ida, on September 5, 2021. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Bergen County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for coastal flooding and strong wind; Relatively High for tornadoes, inland flooding, lightning and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for hurricanes; Very Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $321.8 million a year, the highest of 21 New Jersey counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $216.8 million (67%), 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 Woodcliff Lake
- Park Ridge, NJ1 mi
- Hillsdale, NJ2 mi
- Montvale, NJ2 mi
- Westwood, NJ2 mi
- Township Of Washington, NJ2 mi
- Ho Ho Kus, NJ3 mi
- Upper Saddle River, NJ3 mi
- Waldwick, NJ3 mi
- Pearl River, NY3 mi
- Emerson, NJ4 mi
- Allendale, NJ4 mi
- Ridgewood, NJ4 mi
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