Newport County, Rhode Island severe weather history spans 80 recorded events between 1974 and 2024. The dominant hazard is thunderstorm wind, accounting for 27.5% of all recorded events. It ranks #2,958 nationally and #4 in Rhode Island.
80
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
0
Direct injuries
$3.8M
Property damage
The record
What the Newport County, Rhode Island severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Newport County, Rhode Island severe weather history averages 1.6 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 1990s, with 24 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 5 events fall before 1990 and 75 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is flood, with $3.6M in reported property damage. In total, 8 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Newport County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 22 | 0 | $92K | 65 | 1974–2021 |
| Heavy Rain | 16 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1996–2003 |
| Hail | 13 | 0 | $0 | 1.75 | 1994–2024 |
| Flood | 11 | 0 | $3.6M | 0 | 2006–2024 |
| Lightning | 8 | 0 | $78K | 0 | 1998–2023 |
| Flash Flood | 7 | 0 | $84K | 0 | 1997–2021 |
| Funnel Cloud | 2 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1997–1997 |
| Tornado | 1 | 0 | $5K | EF0 | 2019–2019 |
Decade by decade
Newport County, Rhode Island severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
1 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 1 touched down inside it and 0 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-10-02 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 mi | Touched down here |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Five to eight inches of rain fell acros Newport County. Many basements were flooded in Jamestown, and Portsmouth. Several roads were flooded in Jamestown, Tiverton, and Portsmouth, including Route 24 at Main Street in Portsmouth, which was closed.
In Portsmouth, a large stretch of Fairview Lane was ripped up and destroyed due to flood waters rushing down the road and undermining the roadway. CoCoRAHS observers reported a total of 8.32 inches of rain in Portsmouth and 7.56 inches in nearby Jamestown.
In Newport, about 1 mile south of Rose Island, there was a report forwarded by amateur radio operators, of a person on a sailboat that recorded a wind gust to 75 mph on the boat's anemometer. Do not know the brand of the equipment. According to an article on newportri.com/news, two boats sank in the harbor – one was an Alerion Express 28.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Very Low
FEMA NRI risk rating
84,657
Population (ACS)
$610K
Median home value
22
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 20, 2024 | Severe Storm | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR |
| May 12, 2022 | Snowstorm | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR |
| Aug 21, 2021 | Hurricane | HURRICANE HENRI | EM |
| Mar 30, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| Apr 3, 2015 | Severe Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORM AND SNOWSTORM | DR |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Newport County, Rhode Island?
80 events are on record between 1974 and 2024, causing 0 direct deaths and $3.8M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Newport County?
Thunderstorm Wind, with 22 recorded events — 27.5% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Newport County?
1 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 1 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Newport County?
22 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Newport County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Newport County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Newport County as very low risk, placing it in the 36 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Newport County, Rhode Island severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- Kent County 184
- Providence County 451
- Bristol County 70
- Washington County 131
Cite this page
“Newport County, Rhode Island.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/rhode-island/newport-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.