NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Arcata, CA
Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
No tropical storm or hurricane has passed within 75 miles of Arcata, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 2 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 2
- EF3 or stronger
- 0
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
no recorded deaths
What the records show for Arcata
The strongest of the 2 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F2 on March 29, 1958; its path came within 6 miles. The most recent tornado was on January 25, 2018. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 91% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Arcata. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 10 times since 2015, with stones up to 1 inch (quarter size). Arcata has more hail reports within 10 miles than 88% of the 705 California cities.
Compare Arcata's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Arcata
By decade
- 2010s1
- 1950s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 29, 1958 | F2 | 6 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 25, 2018 | EF0 | 6 mi | 0.04 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 2 of 2, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Arcata
The Storm Prediction Center has 10 hail reports within 10 miles of Arcata since 2015, made on 8 separate days. Of these, one was 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest, 1 inch (quarter size), fell on December 10, 2015. The most recent report is from December 1, 2022. February has the most reports, 7.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Arcata
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Eureka WFO Woodley Island, CA, 6 miles southwest of Arcata at 20 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 64°F and low of 53°F; December is the coolest, at 55°F and 40°F. December is the wettest at 8.1 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.2 inches; the year adds up to 40.5 inches over 76 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs of 90°F are rare: fewer than one day a year on average. Lows fall below freezing on about 8 nights a year. That 40.5 inches is more than at 203 of the 226 California stations used on this site (90%). Mckinleyville, 7 miles north, has its own station (Arcata Eureka Airport, CA): 46.3 inches a year, 5.8 more than here, and an August average high of 65°F against 64°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station North Spit, CA, 10 miles southwest, averaged 56°F in August and 50°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the North Spit tide gauge, 10 miles from Arcata, has risen 2.00 ± 0.14 inches per decade from 1977 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 20.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 119 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 55 | 41 | 6.7 | 12 | 51 |
| Feb | 55 | 41 | 5.6 | 10 | 50 |
| Mar | 56 | 42 | 5.8 | 11 | 50 |
| Apr | 57 | 44 | 3.6 | 8 | 51 |
| May | 60 | 48 | 1.7 | 5 | 52 |
| Jun | 62 | 50 | 0.7 | 2 | 54 |
| Jul | 63 | 52 | 0.2 | 0 | 55 |
| Aug | 64 | 53 | 0.2 | 1 | 56 |
| Sep | 64 | 51 | 0.7 | 2 | 56 |
| Oct | 62 | 47 | 2.3 | 5 | 55 |
| Nov | 58 | 43 | 4.9 | 9 | 53 |
| Dec | 55 | 40 | 8.1 | 12 | 52 |
| Year | 59 | 46 | 40.5 | 76 | 53 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Eureka WFO Woodley Island, CA (20 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station North Spit, CA, from NOAA Tides & Currents. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Arcata
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 45 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Arcata: 36 floods, 7 heavy rain events and 2 flash floods. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $681,000 in property and crop damage.
January 17, 2017: heavy rain event 10 miles from the centre of Arcata — $650,000 damage.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Flood insurance policyholders in Arcata's ZIP code 95521 have filed 39 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1982, and were paid $459,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 23% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 415 California cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 199 have fewer than Arcata.
Humboldt County, which includes Arcata, has been named in 27 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1964, 22 of them major disasters (by incident: 12 floods, 8 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 1 coastal storm). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, on April 3, 2023. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Humboldt County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for inland flooding and coastal flooding; Relatively Low for lightning and heat waves; Very Low for tornadoes, hail and strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $188.6 million a year, the 26th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $51.1 million (27%), is from inland flooding.
Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. 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).
Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets 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).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.