Amherst Town

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond this area.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Every storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 to 2025.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Flood insurance figures are for Hampshire County, the county that contains Amherst Town.

Claims by ZIP code

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).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

River gauges in Hampshire County, the county that contains Amherst Town.

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

The drought index is for Hampshire County, the county that contains Amherst Town.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the city centre.
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Mapped landslides

Landslides mapped in Hampshire County.

Mapped by NASA (2).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Dec 11, 2008Ice Storm, Eastern Hampshire$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees, limbs, and wires were downed in Pelham, Belchertown, and Amherst.

2. Dec 11, 2008Ice Storm, Western Hampshire$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Three-quarters of an inch of ice accumulated on exposed surfaces throughout western Hampshire County. Trees, large limbs and wires were downed in Cummington, Chesterfield, Worthington, Goshen, and Middlefield.

3. Apr 16, 2007Flood$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Record flooding along the Mill River caused extensive flooding in Northampton. The river crested at 15.6 feet on the 16th, which was the highest crest on record, and well above the previous record crest of 13.7 feet which occurred in October, 2005. Many roads near the river were closed and some evacuations took place as flood waters threatened nearby homes and businesses.|Minor flooding also affected the mainstem Connecticut River through Northampton. A crest of 119 feet was recorded at 430 pm on the 17th (flood stage is 112 feet).

4. Dec 7, 1996Heavy Snow, Eastern Hampshire$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A low pressure system centered over Georgia at 7 AM on December 7th moved rapidly northeast across North Carolina. The intensifying system then moved nearly parallel to the Mid-Atlantic coast with its center reaching Plymouth County in southeastern Massachusetts during the early morning hours of December 8th. Temperatures rose into the 50s along and east of the track of the low center...over Plymouth County and Cape Cod. Heavy precipitation occurred across all of Massachusetts with rain over coastal areas and the southeast part of the state and heavy snow in all of western and central Massachusetts and much of Middlesex and Essex counties in the northeastern part of the state. A…

5. Dec 7, 1996Heavy Snow, Western Hampshire$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A low pressure system centered over Georgia at 7 AM on December 7th moved rapidly northeast across North Carolina. The intensifying system then moved nearly parallel to the Mid-Atlantic coast with its center reaching Plymouth County in southeastern Massachusetts during the early morning hours of December 8th. Temperatures rose into the 50s along and east of the track of the low center...over Plymouth County and Cape Cod. Heavy precipitation occurred across all of Massachusetts with rain over coastal areas and the southeast part of the state and heavy snow in all of western and central Massachusetts and much of Middlesex and Essex counties in the northeastern part of the state. A…

6. Oct 9, 2005Flood, Western Hampshire$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A slow-moving cold front interacted with the remnants of Tammy produced significant rain and flooding across western Massachusetts. Northwest Massachusetts, in particular, received between 9 and 11 inches of rain from this event.The significant rainfall washed out numerous roads in Hampshire and Franklin counties, including the towns of Plainfield, Chesterfield, and Bernardston. In Springfield, an apartment roof collapsed due to the weight of water on it. The swollen Green River flooded a mobile home park in Greenfield, knocking some homes off their foundations.No known injuries directly resulted from this heavy rainfall event in Massachusetts.

7. Jul 23, 2014Lightning$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A lightning strike was determined to be the cause of a fire that destroyed a 6,500 square foot home on North Farms Road in Northampton.

8. Jan 7, 1996Heavy Snow, Western Hampshire$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense East Coast low pressure system moved northeast from eastern Georgia passing along the coast of the Carolinas and then close to 40 degrees North and 70 degrees West. This storm was one of the most significant winter storms to hit southern New England in the past 20 years and was named "The Blizzard of '96" as it dumped record snowfalls from the mid-Atlantic states to southern New England. Technically, this storm only reached a true blizzard by National Weather Service criteria for a few hours in a small section of eastern Massachusetts around South Weymouth during the early morning hours on January 8th. Very heavy snowfall, which was measured in feet, was the main effect…

9. Jan 7, 1996Heavy Snow, Eastern Hampshire$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An intense East Coast low pressure system moved northeast from eastern Georgia passing along the coast of the Carolinas and then close to 40 degrees North and 70 degrees West. This storm was one of the most significant winter storms to hit southern New England in the past 20 years and was named "The Blizzard of '96" as it dumped record snowfalls from the mid-Atlantic states to southern New England. Technically, this storm only reached a true blizzard by National Weather Service criteria for a few hours in a small section of eastern Massachusetts around South Weymouth during the early morning hours on January 8th. Very heavy snowfall, which was measured in feet, was the main effect…

10. Aug 28, 2011Tropical Storm, Eastern Hampshire$450,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Multiple trees and wires were downed in Northampton, including on North Maple and King Streets, Woodlawn Avenue. A large tree was downed in Amherst. Numerous trees and wires were downed in Belchertown, including at the intersection of Daniel Shays Highway and Old Pelham Road, on Bay Road, and one downed onto the railroad tracks near Lake Drive. Trees were downed in Ware on River, Old Poor Farm, and Shady Hill Roads, and North Church Street.

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

104°FJul 4, 1911

All-time low

−30°FJan 22, 1961

Warmest night

80°FJul 5, 1990

Coldest day

−3°FDec 30, 1933

Wettest day

7.56 inOct 9, 2005

Snowiest day

18.0 in2 times, most recently Feb 6, 2001

Hottest year

1949mean 52.1°F

Coldest year

1904mean 44.3°F

Wettest year

201863.62 in

Driest year

196327.66 in

Snowiest season

83.9 in1995-96

Station Amherst (USC00190120), 145 ft elevation, 2.2 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 98.4% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

Declarations for Hampshire County.

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).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USC00190120.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.