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: 1.
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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Mar 14, 2010Flood$26.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Each of the seven gaged mainstem rivers in Middlesex County rose above flood stage, the Nashua River at East Pepperell, Shawsheen River at Wilmington, and the Assabet River at Maynard all reached major flood. The Concord River at Lowell and the Shawsheen River at Wilmington set record flood stages.||In addition, several small streams went into flood, including the Charles River at Waltham and Cambridge, and the Aberjona River at Winchester. Damage from this river flooding, along with poor drainage and street flooding, resulted in a federal disaster declaration for this and six other counties in Massachusetts. ||Numerous basements flooded in Weston, Newton, Natick, Watertown,…

2. Jul 10, 2010Flash Flood$11.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The most significant flash flooding affected Somerville, where damage was estimated to be around ten million dollars. Several businesses experienced severe flooding, and the Somerville Public Safety Building was inundated with nearly four feet of water. Three police cruisers were destroyed. Two schools and the library were also affected. Over three feet of water flooded Washington Street at McGrath Highway where several cars were stranded. A water rescue was required at an underpass in Union Square as flood waters rapidly inundated a vehicle. Widespread significant street flooding also occurred in Watertown, Belmont, Cambridge, and Medford.

3. Mar 29, 2010Flood$8.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Four to seven inches of rain fell across Middlesex County resulting in each of the seven gaged mainstem rivers in Middlesex County to rise above flood stage. The Assabet River at Maynard and the Sudbury River at Saxonville both reached major flood with the Sudbury River setting a new flood of record. The Nashua River at East Pepperell, the Shawsheen River at Wilmington, and the Merrimack River at Lowell reached moderate flood. ||Several small streams rose above flood stage in Middlesex County, including the Aberjona River at Winchester and the Charles River at Waltham.||Basements flooded in Stoneham and Billerica. Numerous streets were closed due to flooding in Littleton, Concord,…

4. May 13, 2006Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall, most of it falling over a 100 hour period, caused widespread flooding across much of eastern Massachusetts of small streams and main stem rivers. Major flooding of a number of small streams and main stem rivers occurred in Essex County of Massachusetts. The Governor of Massachusetts declared a State of Emergency for a time during this event, and the President declared major disaster status for those affected in Essex, Middlesex, and Suffolk Counties in Massachusetts. At some locations, this was the worst flooding recorded since the 1938 Hurricane and the great rain/snowmelt floods in March 1936.The focus of heavy rain shifted to eastern Massachusetts late Friday…

5. Aug 28, 2011Tropical Storm, Western Middlesex$3.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Numerous trees were downed in Concord, two of these were downed onto houses. Trees were downed onto houses on Brook Street in Framingham and on Cushing Drive in Wilmington. Numerous trees were downed throughout Bedford, including on Blocking Springs, Burlington, Wilson, and South Roads, Wiggins and School Avenues, Ruben Duren Way, and Washington and Otis Streets. Several of these trees were downed onto houses. A tree was downed onto a house on Revere Road in Lexington. A large tree was downed, blocking four lanes of traffic on Route 28 in North Reading. Two utility poles were downed on Hartwell Road in Bedford. A tree was downed at the FEMA Regional Operations Center in…

6. Dec 11, 2008Ice Storm, Western Middlesex$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Three-quarters of an inch of ice accumulated on exposed surfaces across western Middlesex County. Trees and wires down in Littleton, Westford, Chelmsford, Groton, Acton, Hudson, Billerica, Lowell, Dracut, and Marlborough. Some of the power lines that were downed wrapped around a tractor trailer on Route 118.

7. Dec 11, 2008Ice Storm, Northwest Middlesex County$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Three-quarters of an inch of ice accumulated on exposed surfaces across northwest Middlesex County. Trees and large limbs were downed in Groton and Pepperell blocking many roads.

8. Jan 7, 1996Heavy Snow, Western Middlesex$1.5 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…

9. Jan 7, 1996Heavy Snow, Southeast Middlesex$1.4 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…

10. Dec 7, 1996Heavy Snow, Western Middlesex$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…

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

102°FJul 6, 2010

All-time low

−20°FJan 18, 1957

Warmest night

79°FJul 20, 2019

Coldest day

3°FJan 15, 1957

Wettest day

8.48 inSep 11, 1954

Snowiest day

19.8 inDec 12, 1960

Hottest year

2020mean 52.0°F

Coldest year

1962mean 45.9°F

Wettest year

195860.94 in

Driest year

194928.04 in

Station Bedford Hanscom Field (USW00014702), 128 ft elevation, 2.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1949 to October 26, 2026; 93.2% 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 USW00014702.
• 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.
• 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.