Gardner

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.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

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 Worcester County, the county that contains Gardner.

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 Worcester County, the county that contains Gardner.

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 Worcester County, the county that contains Gardner.

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 Worcester 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, Northern Worcester$20.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Up to an inch of ice accumulated on exposed surfaces resulting in the downing of numerous trees, branches, power and phone poles, and wires across northern Worcester County. Many of these trees fell on cars and houses and blocked roads, resulting in the closure of some of the roads.

2. May 31, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe thunderstorms moved through central and southern Worcester County and caused intense downbursts between about 10 PM and 1030 PM. Two primary macroburst paths were identified by a National Weather Service survey on June 1st. The more southern path produced locally severe damage in parts of Charlton and Oxford, where a wind gust to 60 mph was reported by a spotter. It may be possible to trace this path back to the Brookfield, Brimfield, and Wilbraham areas, where there also were reports of wind damage. A second macroburst path could be traced nearly west to east across central Worcester County, from North Brookfield through Spencer, Leicester, Worcester, Shrewsbury, and…

3. Aug 4, 2018Tornado$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   In just about one minute, an EF-1 tornado, with maximum winds estimated at 110 mph, wreaked havoc in the easternmost portion of Dudley, MA and in the downtown portion of Webster, MA. It touched down along Route 12 (Schofield Avenue) to the west of Laprise Court in Dudley and traveled northeastward onto Main Street in Webster, then lifted near the French River by Oxford Avenue. ||Many trees were snapped and debarked. In Webster, a gas station overhang was twisted. An old brick rooftop was damaged, with bricks having fallen onto Main Street. The rubber roof covering of another building was peeled completely off. Windows were blown out at a business on Main Street and the street was…

4. Mar 29, 2010Flood$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Three to seven inches of rain fell across portions of Worcester County, resulting in the Blackstone River at Northbridge rising to minor flood. The Nashua River at Clinton also rose above flood stage. Several roads and basements flooded in Leominster, Fitchburg, Lancaster, Milford, Mendon, Blackstone, Northbridge, and Shrewsbury. Reduced speed limits were imposed on the rail line between Framingham and Worcester.||Clinton experienced substantial flooding two weeks prior to this event. The Nashua River at Clinton crested only four tenths of a foot lower than that event. However, because of the recent flooding, many preparations were made in advance of the rainfall. Roughly 10,000…

5. Dec 11, 2008Ice Storm, Southern Worcester$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Up to six tenths of an inch of ice accumulated on exposed surfaces across southern Worcester County. Trees, large limbs, and wires down in Worcester, Auburn, Charlton, Grafton, Oxford, Worcester, and Shrewsbury. Several trees landed on houses and one landed on a boat.

6. Mar 14, 2010Flood$2.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Nashua River at Clinton rose to flood stage after three to six inches of rain fell across Worcester County. Two factories in Clinton were closed after ten feet of water flooded the basements. In addition, two to three hundred feet of railroad tracks were washed out. Several cars were submerged in flood waters throughout Clinton. Two sections of Clinton were flooded: the Main and Church Streets area, where Coachlace Pond overflowed a culvert and the Water Street section near the Nashua River. Many streets were closed and several businesses along Main Street were damaged by floodwaters. The U-Haul storage facility on High Street was flooded. Several apartments throughout town…

7. Dec 7, 1996Heavy Snow, Southern Worcester$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…

8. Dec 7, 1996Heavy Snow, Northern Worcester$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…

9. Mar 15, 2010Flood$1.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Ten homes along Quaboag Street were flooded when Quaboag Pond overflowed its banks. Route 148, Quaboag and Mill Streets were flooded.

10. Jan 7, 1996Heavy Snow, Southern Worcester$1.3 million
    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…

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

99°FSep 2, 1953

All-time low

−19°FJan 15, 1957

Warmest night

77°F2 times, most recently Jul 6, 2010

Coldest day

−2°FJan 8, 1968

Wettest day

6.38 inAug 19, 1955

Snowiest day

31.9 inJan 27, 2015

Hottest year

2023mean 51.7°F

Coldest year

1958mean 45.3°F

Wettest year

197271.66 in

Driest year

200130.81 in

Snowiest season

131.9 in1995-96

Station Worcester (USW00094746), 1,002 ft elevation, 22.5 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 27, 2026; 99.9% 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 Worcester 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 USW00094746.
• 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.