Rutherford

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 Bergen County, the county that contains Rutherford.

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 Bergen County, the county that contains Rutherford.

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 Bergen County, the county that contains Rutherford.

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.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

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 Bergen County.

Mapped by NJ GS (62), NASA (2).

Deadly landslides

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. Mar 13, 2010Flood$45.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several rivers and small streams exceeded bankfull causing flooding of roads and damage to nearly 5000 homes, 20 of which were condemned. The property damage amount listed is estimated.

2. Sep 16, 1999Flash Flood$17.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Torrential record rainfall, which caused serious widespread urban, small stream, and river flooding, preceded the remnants of Hurricane Floyd, which passed over Western Suffolk County of Long Island from 7 pm to 9 pm on September 16th.Deaths: Flooding caused 3 deaths: 2 in Bergen County and 1 in Passaic County. In Bergen County, a 53 year old man and a 27 year old man drowned in their cars. In Passaic County, an 82 year old man drowned in his house.Property Damage: State-wide, the initial cost estimates for damage to only the public sector was $67 million dollars. For Passaic, Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Union Counties, the initial cost estimates were $35.5 million dollars. These…

3. Apr 15, 2007Flood$6.9 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A Nor���Easter occurred during Sunday and Monday, April 15th and 16th. It brought heavy rain that caused widespread and significant river, stream, and urban flooding of low lying and poor drainage areas. Significant river flooding lasted through April 23rd.|Flooding resulted in 2 deaths and in millions of dollars in property damage. Police found a 79 year old man next to his car on a flooded street in Belleville. A 43 year old woman was found in her flooded car when it was pulled from the Ramapo River in Mahwah. Cost estimates of property damage ranged up to $19 million dollars, as provided by the New Jersey State Office of Emergency Management.|Storm Total Rainfall amounts…

4. Jan 19, 1996Flood, Bergen$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong southerly winds ushered very mild and moisture laden air into the region. Street and poor drainage flooding became a major problem early on due to the rains and significant snowmelt. River and stream flooding occurred later in the afternoon of the 19th and continued well into the next day. Several roofs collapsed during the next few days in response to an extremely heavy load of water brought on by the past blizzard and the heavy rains. Flooding was so widespread and severe that this event became known as the DELUGE OF '96.

5. Apr 2, 2005Flood, Bergen$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A low pressure system developed in the Gulf Of Mexico and rapidly intensified as it moved north to northeast. The low passed over the Appalachian Mountains and moved slowly west of the local area during Saturday and Sunday, April 2nd and 3rd. Widespread heavy rain along with embedded heavy showers and thunderstorms occurred with this system. Storm Total Rainfall amounts ranged from 1.50 to 3.25 inches. During March 28th and 29th, only 3 to 5 days earlier, another low dumped 1.50 to 3.00 inches of rain across the region as it moved north to northeast along the eastern seaboard. These wet antecedent conditions primed the local area for additional widespread flooding with 3 to 6…

6. Oct 29, 2012High Wind, Western Bergen$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wind gust up to 80 mph was reported in Clifton at 930 pm.

7. Oct 29, 2012High Wind, Eastern Bergen$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Near Teaneck, a wind gust up to 76 mph was reported at 731 pm. A wind gust up to 72 mph was measured at Teterboro Airport at 747 pm. In North Arlington, a wind gust up to 63 mph was reported at 348 pm.

8. Feb 13, 2017High Wind, Eastern Bergen$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A mesonet station in Englewood Cliffs measured sustained winds of 41 mph at 1239 pm. Another mesonet station located in Cliffside Park measured 40 mph sustained winds at 925 am. At 3 pm, a trained spotter reported a large tree was downed, which crushed the front half of a house. This occurred in the town of Saddle Brook on Saddle River Road and Rochelle Parkway. The ASOS at Teterboro Airport reported a wind gust up to 53 mph at 1204 pm.

9. Oct 24, 2017Strong Wind, Western Bergen$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   At 1214 pm in Ramsey, a trained spotter reported a tree down on North Central Avenue. A minute later, a trained spotter reported a large tree down on Indian Trail in Saddle River. In Mahwah, another spotter reported a tree down at 1219 pm on West Road. In the town of Wyckoff, a tree was down per a trained spotter onto power lines at Franklin Avenue and Wylie Place. This occurred at 1230 pm. At 1245 pm in the town of Ramsey, an emergency manager reported several large tree limbs and power lines down throughout the town. At 118 pm in Saddle River, a trained spotter reported wires down and on fire on Old Stone Church Road. Another trained spotter reported a tree down on Belmont and…

10. Aug 6, 2008Thunderstorm Wind$335,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    A microburst occurred in Harrington Park along a west to east running path one-quarter mile long and 200 yards wide. This path was roughly from 21 Harriot Avenue, where it appears the microburst made first contact with the ground, to the western border of the town. The microburst brought down multiple large tree branches, and a few large trees, causing damage to 5 to 10 houses and some parked cars, including a 2008 limited edition Mustang Bullitt. Based on the damage, peak winds from this microburst were estimated at around 90 mph. In addition, multiple trees were downed in Old Tappan near where the Hackensack River goes through the town.

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 22, 2011

All-time low

−7°FJan 22, 1984

Warmest night

85°FJul 15, 1995

Coldest day

6°FJan 21, 1985

Wettest day

8.18 inSep 16, 1999

Snowiest day

16.0 in2 times, most recently Feb 12, 1983

Hottest year

2012mean 57.2°F

Coldest year

1992mean 51.9°F

Wettest year

201169.65 in

Driest year

200133.66 in

Station Teterboro Airport (USW00094741), 3 ft elevation, 3.7 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1969 to October 27, 2026; 99.3% 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 Bergen 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 USW00094741.
• 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.