NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Auburn, 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 Auburn, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 12 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 12
- 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 Auburn
The strongest of the 12 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F2 on February 7, 1978; its path came within 23 miles. Of the 12, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 6 have come since 2000. March has had the most tornadoes, 4. The most recent tornado was on November 18, 2020. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 52% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Auburn. Hail has been reported within 10 miles once, in 2015, with stones of 0.75 inches (penny size). Of the 705 California cities, 72% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Auburn.
Compare Auburn's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Auburn
By decade
- 2020s1
- 2010s5
- 1990s1
- 1980s3
- 1970s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 7, 1978 | F2 | 23 mi | 1.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 24, 2015 | EF1 | 16 mi | 6.21 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 22, 2012 | EF1 | 8 mi | 4.02 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 19, 1988 | F1 | 18 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 22, 1983 | F1 | 16 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 18, 2020 | EF0 | 22 mi | 4.39 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 21, 2018 | EF0 | 24 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 9, 2017 | EF0 | 14 mi | 0.18 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 26, 2014 | EF0 | 18 mi | 4.02 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 23, 1990 | F0 | 8 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 3, 1983 | F0 | 17 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 15, 1972 | F0 | 19 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 12, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Auburn
The Storm Prediction Center has one hail report within 10 miles of Auburn, from November 15, 2015: 0.75 inches (penny size).
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Auburn
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Auburn, CA, 2 miles south of Auburn at 1,292 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 93°F and low of 63°F; December is the coolest, at 56°F and 37°F. January is the wettest at 7.0 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 36.1 inches over 48 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 63 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 20 nights a year. That 36.1 inches is more than at 193 of the 226 California stations used on this site (85%). Meadow Vista, 6 miles northeast, has its own station (Colfax, CA): 45.9 inches a year, 9.8 more than here, and a July average high of 92°F against 93°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 56 | 38 | 7.0 | 8 |
| Feb | 59 | 40 | 6.5 | 8 |
| Mar | 63 | 42 | 6.1 | 7 |
| Apr | 68 | 45 | 2.8 | 5 |
| May | 77 | 52 | 1.7 | 3 |
| Jun | 86 | 58 | 0.4 | 1 |
| Jul | 93 | 63 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Aug | 92 | 63 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Sep | 87 | 60 | 0.2 | 1 |
| Oct | 77 | 52 | 1.4 | 2 |
| Nov | 64 | 43 | 3.1 | 5 |
| Dec | 56 | 37 | 6.8 | 8 |
| Year | 73 | 49 | 36.1 | 48 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Auburn, CA (1,292 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 Auburn
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 33 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Auburn: 21 floods, 5 heavy rain events, 3 flash floods, 3 thunderstorm wind reports and 1 lightning strike. They killed 3 people and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $226,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 60 mph, on November 15, 2015.
November 23, 2024: flood 4 miles from the centre of Auburn — 2 killed.
NWS: “Placer County Sheriff reported a group of three men went to fish in the North American River, north of Folsom Lake on November 23rd. Two of the men, both 20 years old, got into the water.”
January 2, 2026: heavy rain event 3 miles from the centre of Auburn — 1 killed.
NWS: “There were numerous reports of roadway flooding and rises on small creeks and streams in the area due to heavy rain. A hiker went missing on January 2nd around 2:00 PM.”
March 21, 2018: flood 7 miles from the centre of Auburn — $100,000 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 Auburn's 3 ZIP codes have filed 60 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1986, and were paid $857,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1995: 15 claims (25% of all) and $259,000. The year with the most claims was 1997, with 12. 28% 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, 261 have fewer than Auburn.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1995 | 15 | $259,000 |
Placer County, which includes Auburn, has been named in 26 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1964, 13 of them major disasters (by incident: 9 fires, 6 floods, 6 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, on January 14, 2023. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Placer County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for inland flooding and lightning; Relatively Low for strong wind and heat waves; Very Low for tornadoes and hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $162.6 million a year, the 28th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $107.3 million (66%), 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.