NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Arvada, CO
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 Arvada, Colorado since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 161 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 2 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 161
- EF3 or stronger
- 2
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
no recorded deaths
What the records show for Arvada
The highest rating among the 161 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3, reached 2 times; the most recent, on June 15, 1988, came within 12 miles. Of the 161, 6 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 39 have come since 2000. June has had the most tornadoes, 76. The most recent tornado was on June 13, 2025. Arvada has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 73% of the 157 Colorado cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 487 times since 1956, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Arvada has more hail reports within 10 miles than 91% of the 157 Colorado cities.
Compare Arvada's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Arvada
By decade
- 2020s9
- 2010s14
- 2000s16
- 1990s38
- 1980s49(1 EF3+)
- 1970s17(1 EF3+)
- 1960s15
- 1950s3
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 15, 1988 | F3 | 12 mi | 2.5 mi | 0 / 7 |
| May 18, 1975 | F3 | 20 mi | 4.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 7, 2021 | EF2 | 25 mi | 7.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 15, 1988 | F2 | 12 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 5, 1988 | F2 | 9 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 5, 1988 | F2 | 14 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 2, 1987 | F2 | 21 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 8, 1986 | F2 | 13 mi | 1.1 mi | 0 / 6 |
| Jul 19, 1985 | F2 | 24 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 3, 1981 | F2 | 8 mi | 2.3 mi | 0 / 42 |
| Jun 3, 1981 | F2 | 8 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 15, 1980 | F2 | 15 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 161, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Arvada
The Storm Prediction Center has 487 hail reports within 10 miles of Arvada since 1956, made on 170 separate days. Of these, 339 were 1 inch across or larger, and 23 reached 2 inches. The largest size, 3 inches (tea cup size), was reported on 2 days, most recently June 18, 2018. The most recent report is from August 10, 2025. June has the most reports, 167.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Arvada
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Wheat Ridge 2, CO, 3 miles south of Arvada at 5,398 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 88°F and low of 57°F; December is the coolest, at 47°F and 17°F. May is the wettest at 2.7 inches of precipitation on average and January and December the driest at 0.6 inches; the year adds up to 17.1 inches over 43 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 39 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 168 nights a year. Snowfall averages 75.5 inches a year, most of it in March. That 17.1 inches is more than at 58 of the 91 Colorado stations used on this site (64%). Westminster, 6 miles northeast, has its own station (Northglenn, CO): 14.5 inches a year, 2.6 less than here, and a July average high of 91°F against 88°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 47 | 17 | 0.6 | 2 | 9.6 |
| Feb | 48 | 18 | 0.8 | 3 | 11.9 |
| Mar | 57 | 26 | 1.5 | 4 | 12.9 |
| Apr | 62 | 33 | 2.3 | 6 | 12.1 |
| May | 71 | 43 | 2.7 | 6 | 2.2 |
| Jun | 83 | 51 | 1.7 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 88 | 57 | 1.9 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 86 | 55 | 1.6 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 79 | 45 | 1.3 | 4 | 1.0 |
| Oct | 66 | 34 | 1.2 | 3 | 5.9 |
| Nov | 55 | 24 | 0.9 | 3 | 10.0 |
| Dec | 47 | 17 | 0.6 | 2 | 9.9 |
| Year | 66 | 35 | 17.1 | 43 | 75.5 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Wheat Ridge 2, CO (5,398 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. 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 Arvada
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 88 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Arvada: 53 thunderstorm wind reports, 23 flash floods, 10 lightning strikes and 2 floods. They killed 2 people and injured 10, and the NWS estimated $299.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on July 12, 1996. September has had the most flash floods, 9 of 23. Of the 144 Colorado cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 130 have had fewer than Arvada.
July 19, 2016: lightning strike 2 miles from the centre of Arvada — 1 killed, 1 injured.
July 20, 2019: flash flood 6 miles from the centre of Arvada — 1 killed.
August 10, 1996: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Arvada — 5 injured.
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 Arvada's 5 ZIP codes have filed 92 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $500,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Late summer storms in 2013: 13 claims (14% of all) and $392,000. 14% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 56 Colorado cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 43 have fewer than Arvada.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Late summer storms2013 | 13 | $392,000 |
Jefferson County, which includes Arvada, has been named in 15 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 6 of them major disasters (by incident: 5 fires, 5 floods, 2 biological emergencies, 2 snowstorms). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Flooding, and Tornadoes, on August 25, 2023. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Jefferson County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for hail and lightning; Relatively High for tornadoes, inland flooding and strong wind; Relatively Low for heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $231.4 million a year, the highest of 64 Colorado counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $77.4 million (33%), 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.