Barnstable County

Every recorded tornado

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

High tide flooding

1. High tide flooding days are days on which a NOAA tide gauge recorded water at or above NOAA's minor flood threshold, set from the gauge's tide range, counted by meteorological year (May to April). These are the counts in NOAA's annual high tide flooding reports; they are not National Weather Service flood stages. Years with less than 80 percent of data are left out.

NOAA CO-OPS high tide flooding counts, through April 2026, 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.

Tsunamis

1. Places where NOAA's Global Historical Tsunami Database records a tsunami's water arriving, with the greatest height it reached above sea level at the time. Only tsunamis NOAA rates probable or definite are counted. Heights from eyewitness accounts and tide gauges are mixed, and older events are less completely recorded.

NOAA NCEI/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database, 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. Feb 9, 2013Coastal Flood, Barnstable$5.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   In Sandwich, private and public access stairs leading to the beach were washed away. Water flowed around and under buildings, damaging at least four houses. One of the houses foundation was undermined and adjacent houses flooded. Several roads were flooded and impassable. The firehouse on Route 6A was flooded. Beach erosion occurred, damaging sand fencing, stairways, and walkways. In Dennis, Harbor Road was flooded up to two feet deep near Sesuit Harbor. Route 6A was flooded and impassable at the Dennis/Brewster line. A parking lot at Corporation Beach was undermined and had collapsed. Beach erosion occurred, damaging sand fencing. Dr Botero Road was flooded and had washed out in…

2. Aug 28, 2011Tropical Storm, Barnstable$3.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several trees were downed in Falmouth (on Ludlam and Prospect Streets) and Wellfleet (on Cove Road). Large branches were downed on Long Pond Road in Barnstable.||The Automated Weather Observing System at Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod in Falmouth, MA (KFMH) recorded sustained wind speeds up to 42 knots (48 mph) with gusts to 55 knots (63 mph). The Automated Surface Observation System at Barnstable Municipal Airport in Hyannis, MA (KHYA) recorded sustained wind speeds up to 38 knots (44 mph) with gusts to 57 knots (66 mph). These were the highest sustained winds on land in Southern New England. The Automated Weather Observing System at Provincetown Airport (KPVC) recorded…

3. Jul 23, 2019Tornado$3.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The same supercell storm that produced the Barnstable-Yarmouth tornado went on to touch down again near the center of Harwich, MA at 1210 PM EDT (1110 AM EST). The initial touchdown was just east of Harwich Elementary School, just south of Parallel Street. It moved northeast through Harwich Center, passing just south of a golf course, and lifted in East Harwich in the Vicinity of Queen Anne Road. At least 150 hardwood trees were either uprooted or snapped. A few homes also had shingles that were ripped off. Wind gusts were estimated as high as 110 mph, which is on the high end of the Enhanced Fujita EF-1 ranking. Harwich spent $1.2 million on cleanup of roads. That figure is…

4. Jul 23, 2019Thunderstorm Wind$2.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A NWS survey team determined that although a weak, shallow waterspout was observed over the southern end of the Bass River, the damage observed in West Dennis was from straight-line microburst winds, estimated at 90+ mph. Media and amateur radio contributed to the following reports, as well. Numerous trees and wires were snapped or downed at Wrinkle Point. Trees and wires were down on Loring Avenue. Wires were down on Corporation Road. Trees, wires, and a utility pole were down on Pleasant Street. Wires were down on a car on Depot Street at Vester Drive. Power lines were down on Old Wharf Road. Trees down on Sunset Drive. There were many others. State Emergency Management reported…

5. Aug 16, 2003Lightning$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Severe thunderstorms downed trees in Northampton and large branches in Holyoke, then dropped nickel sized hail in Westfield and Agawam. Another severe thunderstorm in Marshfield downed four large trees, before torrential rainfall flooded several roads in Plymouth. Later that evening on Cape Cod, a lightning strike ignited a fire in Mashpee, completely destroying a house valued at 2.5 million dollars.

6. Dec 9, 2005High Wind, Barnstable$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A low pressure system centered near the Delaware coast intensified rapidly as it tracked quickly northeast across southern New England, producing near-blizzard conditions across Massachusetts around mid afternoon. Damaging winds, whiteout conditions, and approximately one hour of thunder snow occurred across most of the region. In addition, snowfall amounts ranged from around 2 inches across south coastal locations, to as much as 16 inches across northeast and north central Massachusetts. The combination of high winds and snow caused approximately 150,000 electric customers to lose power.Damaging wind gusts between 50 and 60 mph were common across Cape Cod and the rest of…

7. Oct 26, 2021High Wind, Barnstable$1.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Winds gusted to 60-80+ mph on the outer portions of Cape Cod and to 50-60+ mph in the western portions of Cape Cod, near the canal. Peak wind gusts included: 84 mph in Dennis (CWOP), 82 mph in Wellfleet (Weatherflow), 81 mph in Eastham at Hatch Beach (Weatherflow), and 70 mph in Barnstable at Kalmus Beach (Weatherflow). A Weatherflow site at Woods Hole, right on the water, in Falmouth recorded a gust to 79 mph at 411 AM EDT. In Mashpee at 325 AM EDT, an automated weather station recorded high sustained winds of 49 mph. The winds caused widespread damage to trees and power lines. According to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, reported damage in Barnstable County…

8. Jul 23, 2019Tornado$1.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A waterspout moved onshore just west of Kalmus Beach in Barnstable, MA at 1157 AM EDT (1057 AM EST). Winds gusted to 91 mph at a mesonet observation site at Kalmus. They had shifted from southeast to west-northwest with the passage of the tornado. The tornado continued moving northeastward at about 35 mph. The damage was discontinuous but where the tornado touched down, the damage was quite significant, with winds estimated as high as 110 mph. ||The roof of a motel on the south side of Main Street in West Yarmouth was completely peeled off. Additional significant tornado damage occurred just southwest of the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School, particularly along Hazelmoor Road…

9. Jul 23, 2019Thunderstorm Wind$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   In Chatham, a NWS survey found numerous large trees uprooted, consistent with 90+ mph microburst straight line winds, which is what remained after the Harwich tornado lifted. Two utility poles were leaning on Morris Island Road with one snapped in half and wires hanging low to the ground. A mesonet site reported a gust to 85 mph at 1115 AM EST (1215 PM EDT). Emergency management cited $426,000 in costs for the town to clean debris from roadways. Total damage estimates are much higher, accounting for individual homeowner and business claims.

10. Jan 7, 1996Heavy Snow, Barnstable$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…

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

100°FAug 28, 1948

All-time low

−12°FFeb 9, 1934

Warmest night

79°F3 times, most recently Jul 29, 2023

Coldest day

5°F2 times, most recently Feb 12, 1914

Wettest day

6.04 inSep 4, 2010

Snowiest day

24.0 inJan 23, 2005

Hottest year

2022mean 54.1°F

Coldest year

1940mean 47.9°F

Wettest year

201959.86 in

Driest year

196527.51 in

Snowiest season

62.4 in2014-15

Station Hyannis (USC00193821), 60 ft elevation, 2.3 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 27, 2026; 88.1% 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 USC00193821.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Tide gauges NOAA CO-OPS high tide flooding counts, 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.
• Tsunamis NOAA NCEI/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database.
• 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.