New England Hurricanes

Every hurricane that has come ashore in New England since records began in 1851 — 15 storms in 176 seasons. A storm counts if it made landfall in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont or Maine at hurricane strength, including storms that crossed Long Island first. Tropical storms aren't included.

Hurricane landfalls

1851–2026

13 of 176

Seasons with a landfall

7.4% of years

1 in 13.5

Years with a hit

One storm every 11.7 yrs

Years since the last

Bob, 1991

Landfalls by year

1851–2026

Hover a bar for the storm. Two seasons — 1869 and 1954 — had two landfalls.

1 landfall 2 landfalls

By decade

Bursts and droughts

Landfalls clustered in the 1850s–90s and 1938–91, with long quiet stretches in 1897–1937 and since 1992.

How often

Landfalls per season

Storms	Seasons	Share
0	163	92.6%
1	11	6.2%
2	2 (1869, 1954)	1.1%

No season on record has had three or more.

The odds

Chance of at least one landfall

Any given year 7.4%
Next 5 years 32%
Next 10 years 54%
Next 20 years 78%
Next 50 years 98%

Based on 13 landfall seasons out of 176, treating each season as independent. On average that's one storm every 11.7 years. Real landfalls cluster, so long gaps happen more often than this simple model suggests.

Strength at landfall

By category

Cat 1

Cat 2

Cat 3

No Category 4 or 5 hurricane has made landfall in New England.

Gaps

Longest stretches without one

1897–1937 41 years
1992–2026 · and counting 35 years
1970–1984 15 years
1859–1868 10 years

By state

Where they came ashore

State	Landfalls	NOAA direct hits*
Connecticut	6	10
Rhode Island	3	9
Massachusetts	5	10
New Hampshire	0	2
Vermont	0	0
Maine	2	6

Landfalls count each storm once per state where it came ashore at hurricane strength. The Saxby Gale (1869) hit both Massachusetts and Maine, so the states add up to 16. *NOAA's 1851–2004 "direct hits" count every state that felt hurricane conditions, so one storm can count for several states.

Every storm

The 15 landfalls

Boston rainfall comes from this archive's daily records, which start in 1872. The 3-day total covers the day before, the day of, and the day after landfall.

Storm	Cat	Landfall	Path	Boston rain day · 3-day
Three 1858	C1	Sep 16, 1858 Eastern Connecticut	Long Island → CT	— · —
Six 1869 The Great September Gale of 1869.	C3	Sep 8, 1869 Southern Rhode Island	Long Island → RI	— · —
Ten 1869 The Saxby Gale.	C2	Oct 4, 1869 Martha's Vineyard	MA → ME	— · —
Two 1879	C1	Aug 19, 1879 Buzzards Bay	MA	1.80" · 5.13"
Six 1888	C1	Sep 26, 1888 Cape Cod	MA	0.00" · 2.08"
Five 1894 NOAA's database marks only the Long Island landfall, but the storm crossed Long Island Sound and came ashore in Connecticut as a hurricane.	C1	Oct 10, 1894 Connecticut coast	Long Island → CT	1.25" · 1.53"
Two 1896	C1	Sep 10, 1896 Martha's Vineyard	MA	1.46" · 1.75"
Six 1938 The Great New England Hurricane (Long Island Express).	C3	Sep 21, 1938 Milford, Connecticut	Long Island → CT	0.10" · 1.60"
Seven 1944 The Great Atlantic Hurricane.	C2	Sep 14, 1944 Southern Rhode Island	Long Island → RI	2.46" · 4.82"
Carol 1954	C3	Aug 31, 1954 Eastern Connecticut	Long Island → CT	2.58" · 2.60"
Edna 1954	C2	Sep 11, 1954 Martha's Vineyard	MA	5.63" · 5.69"
Donna 1960	C1	Sep 12, 1960 Connecticut coast	Long Island → CT	2.95" · 3.31"
Gerda 1969	C1	Sep 9, 1969 Eastport, Maine	ME	2.19" · 2.77"
Gloria 1985 NOAA's database marks only the Long Island landfall, but Gloria crossed Long Island Sound and came ashore in Connecticut as a Category 1.	C1	Sep 27, 1985 Connecticut coast	Long Island → CT	0.28" · 0.28"
Bob 1991	C2	Aug 19, 1991 Block Island	RI → ME (TS)	2.21" · 2.59"

Data source

Storm tracks, landfall points and wind speeds come from NOAA's HURDAT2 Atlantic hurricane database. Category is the strongest Saffir-Simpson category at a New England landfall. The storm list matches Michael Ferragamo's hand-plotted map United States Hurricane Landfalls 1851–2024 (@FerragamoWx).

Record coverage

Seasons 1851 through 2026. Early storms are less certain: before satellites and aircraft reconnaissance, landfall strength was estimated from ship reports, damage and coastal observations.