Queens County

Every recorded tornado

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

The National Weather Service sets flood stages for 2 gauges here but lists no crests for them.

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.

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 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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Sep 1, 2021Flash Flood$60.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flash flooding resulted in an estimated $60 million in damages across Queens, and an estimated $300 million city-wide. This estimate only includes FEMA and SBA fund requests.

2. Sep 16, 2010Tornado$17.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A National Weather Service Storm Survey Team confirmed a tornado in Queens.||The tornado impacted Flushing and Bayside. In Flushing, on Browne Street between Roosevelt and 38th Avenues, the third floor of a residential brick building was severely damaged structurally. Large tree tops were lying on top of buildings and shot like projectiles between buildings. Sides of houses were peeled back. There was clear evidence of twisted metal along the side of the building. On Warren Street near the intersection of Roosevelt Avenue, a steel framed water tower was blown over on the roof. There was a partial roof collapse on another residential building.||A Pennsylvania woman was killed in…

3. Oct 19, 1996Flash Flood$3.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   On Friday October 18th, a strong low pressure system developed on a cold front over the DelMarVa Peninsula. With a high pressure system in place across Northern New England, the low slowly intensified and moved slowly off the Southern New Jersey Coast during Saturday October 19th.The increasing difference in pressures caused strong and gusty east winds, which also transported abundant moisture from the Atlantic Ocean across the region. Heavy flood producing rains along with minor to major coastal flooding occurred.Rain began during the early morning on the 19th and ended shortly after midnight on the 20th. Three to five inches of rain fell, with isolated higher amounts.Heavy rain…

4. Oct 19, 1996Coastal Flood, Queens$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   On Friday October 18th, a strong low pressure system developed on a cold front over the DelMarVa Peninsula. With a high pressure system in place across Northern New England, the low intensified and moved slowly off the Southern New Jersey Coast on Saturday, the 19th.East winds developed across the region during the 18th. As the difference in pressure systems increased, east winds also increased. Over the sea, sustained wind speeds reached gale force (34 knots) Friday night and continued through Saturday. Strong east winds blowing over a long distance caused tides to average 3 to 6 feet above normal. Tide anomalies were 5.49 feet above normal at Willets Point at 5 pm and 3.62 feet…

5. Oct 29, 2012High Wind, Northern Queens$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wind gust up to 79 mph was reported near Jackson Heights at 802 pm. In addition, a wind gust up to 74 mph was measured at LaGuardia Airport at 655 pm. In Flatbush, a 30 year old male was killed when a tree fell onto his house.

6. Dec 24, 2014Dense Fog, Northern Queens$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dense fog with visibilities 1/4 mile or less developed and impacted travel at LaGuardia Airport.

7. Dec 24, 2014Dense Fog, Southern Queens$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dense fog with visibilities 1/4 mile or less developed and impacted travel at JFK International Airport.

8. Oct 29, 2012High Wind, Southern Queens$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wind gust up to 85 mph was reported at JFK International Airport at 802 PM. Wind gusts up to 78 MPH were reported at Breezy Point at 830 PM.

9. Mar 2, 2018High Wind, Southern Queens$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   At 1228 and 1232 pm, the ASOS at JFK International Airport measured a wind gust to 63 mph. Sustained winds of 48 mph were observed at 1235 pm at JFK. Around 2 pm, the public reported a tree down on multiple cars on Homeland Street in Jamaica Estates. At 349 pm in Jamaica, a tree fell onto a car at CUNY York Campus resulting in an injury per the broadcast media. The ASOS at JFK International airport measured a wind gust to 64 mph at 440 pm. Then, a gust to 67 mph was measured at 527 pm at JFK. Per social media, trees and power lines were downed at 935 pm in Jamaica on Tudor Road near surrey Place.

10. Jan 3, 1999Flash Flood$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    With cold air in place along the surface, as a strong low pressure system moved northeast across the Great Lakes, a second low formed over the Mid-Atlantic States and moved northeast across Long Island during Sunday afternoon, January 3rd.A light intermittent mix of sleet and freezing rain began just after midnight on Sunday. As an icy coating developed on road surfaces below freezing, some significant traffic accidents occurred across the region from midnight through 3 am.However, as southeast winds increased, gusting from 45 to 50 mph, surface temperatures quickly rose above freezing from the immediate coast west during the night. An intense narrow band of torrential rain…

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

107°FJul 3, 1966

All-time low

−7°FFeb 15, 1943

Warmest night

86°F3 times, most recently Jul 19, 2013

Coldest day

8°FJan 21, 1985

Wettest day

6.80 inSep 1, 2021

Snowiest day

27.9 inJan 23, 2016

Hottest year

2016mean 58.7°F

Coldest year

1940mean 51.5°F

Wettest year

201165.34 in

Driest year

196522.17 in

Snowiest season

77.9 in1995-96

Station Laguardia Airport (USW00014732), 10 ft elevation, 4.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1939 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% 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 USW00014732.
• 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.
• Tsunamis NOAA NCEI/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database.
• 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.