Middlesex County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Middlesex County: 0.
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.

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

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.

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 county boundary (or inside the county).
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

Mapped by NASA (1).

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. Aug 4, 2020Tropical Storm, Northern Middlesex$1.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and power lines were downed throughout the county. This resulted in numerous power outages. ||Chester Airport reported a peak gust of 53 mph at 335 pm LST. Nearby, Meriden Markham Municipal Airport reported a peak gust of 54 mph at 256 pm LST.

2. Aug 4, 2020Tropical Storm, Southern Middlesex$1.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees and power lines were downed throughout the county. This resulted in numerous power outages. ||Nearby Chester Airport reported a peak gust of 53 mph at 335 pm LST.||There were no reports of coastal flooding as the highest storm surge did not coincide with high tide and was during a period of low astronomical tides.

3. Mar 30, 2010Flood$315,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Old Saybrook Police Department on Main St. suffered severe flood damage to the building, stored equipment and records after 8 inches of water accumulated in the basement. The Parks and Recreation Department building also in Old Saybrook and the Senior Center in Westbrook also suffered from minor flood damage. In Clinton, widespread damage to houses from flooding was reported across town.

4. Jul 8, 2011Flash Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Runoff from heavy rain caused a number of basements of government buildings and individual homes and businesses to be flooded throughout the town of Portland. The flooding caused extensive damage to town and school records and other materials that were stored in the basement of the Brownstone Intermediate School on Main St. and the Senior Center on Waverly Ave., which houses the Portland Food Bank. Water rescues were also performed by local authorities on Main St. near the Arrigoni Bridge which stretches over the Connecticut River. Total property damage is estimated.

5. Oct 29, 2012High Wind, Northern Middlesex$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wind gust of 58 mph was reported near Middletown at 643 pm.

6. Oct 29, 2012High Wind, Southern Middlesex$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wind gust up to 85 mph was reported by the public in Madison at 520 pm.

7. Apr 13, 2020High Wind, Northern Middlesex$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   At 152 pm, law enforcement reported Route 434 (Mount Parnassus Road) closed at the junction with Old Mount Parnassus Road due to downed trees and wires. This occurred just west, southwest of Mount Parnassus. Around 334 pm, a tree and wires were downed according to law enforcement in Portland. The trees and wires were knocked down onto Portland-Cobalt Road. Around 128 pm, law enforcement reported Route 17 closed between Talcott Lane and Route 68 due to a downed tree and wires. This occurred in Durham Center. Amateur radio reported a tree down on Woodhaven Drive and trees and wires down on Josh Pond Road in the town of Portland at 142 pm.

8. Mar 1, 2018High Wind, Northern Middlesex$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   In the town of Haddam, the Department of Highways reported a tree down due to the winds on Route 81 and Burr Road. The road was closed around 219 pm.

9. Jul 21, 2010Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A National Weather Service Storm Survey team, along with officials from Portland Emergency Management, found damage consistent with microburst winds up to 110 mph along a swath approximately 2 miles long. The damage swath began near the intersection of State Route 66 and Middle Haddam Road in Portland and ended about 2 miles to the east at Keighly Pond Road in the town of East Hampton. The damage path was approximately 0.5 miles wide at its eastern edge and 1.5 miles wide at its western edge, indicative of divergent winds.||Significant damage to many large, mainly hardwood, trees was observed throughout the damage path, with trees averaging 80 feet in height and up to 2 feet in…

10. Sep 2, 2021Flash Flood$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Heavy rain and flash flooding resulted in uninsured damages of $50,266 across Middlesex County.

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

103°F2 times, most recently Jul 22, 2011

All-time low

−24°FFeb 16, 1943

Warmest night

79°FAug 9, 2022

Coldest day

−1°FDec 26, 1980

Wettest day

6.10 inSep 20, 1938

Snowiest day

17.7 inDec 29, 1945

Hottest year

2023mean 54.8°F

Coldest year

1940mean 47.5°F

Wettest year

202364.53 in

Driest year

196528.44 in

Station Hartford Brainard Field (USW00014752), 13 ft elevation, 18.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1920 to October 26, 2026; 98.0% 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.

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.

Neighbouring counties

• 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 USW00014752.
• 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.