NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Bethel Island, 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 Bethel Island, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 20 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 20
- 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 Bethel Island
The highest rating among the 20 tornadoes within 25 miles is F1 or EF1, reached 2 times; the most recent, on January 23, 2010, came within 11 miles. Of the 20, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 5 have come since 2000. April has had the most tornadoes, 9. The most recent tornado was on April 21, 2022. Bethel Island has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 64% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 2 times since 1983, with stones up to 0.75 inches (penny size). Of the 705 California cities, 57% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Bethel Island.
Compare Bethel Island's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Bethel Island
By decade
- 2020s1
- 2010s2
- 2000s2
- 1990s8
- 1980s4
- 1970s2
- 1960s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 23, 2010 | EF1 | 11 mi | 1.64 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 31, 1967 | F1 | 19 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 11, 2012 | EF0 | 20 mi | 0.25 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 26, 2005 | F0 | 23 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 8, 2005 | F0 | 24 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 12, 1998 | F0 | 24 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 19, 1998 | F0 | 8 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 1, 1996 | F0 | 21 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 1, 1996 | F0 | 22 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 1, 1996 | F0 | 19 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 1, 1996 | F0 | 18 mi | 0.8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 23, 1995 | F0 | 15 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 20, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Bethel Island
The Storm Prediction Center has 2 hail reports within 10 miles of Bethel Island, all from April 29, 1983. None of them reached 1 inch. The largest was 0.75 inches (penny size).
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Bethel Island
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Antioch Pumping Plt #3, CA, 7 miles southwest of Bethel Island at 60 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 61°F; January is the coolest, at 56°F and 40°F. January is the wettest at 2.7 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 12.7 inches over 30 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 64 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 7 nights a year. That 12.7 inches is more than at 77 of the 226 California stations used on this site (34%). Discovery Bay, 12 miles south, has its own station (Tracy Pumping Plt, CA): 12.3 inches a year, 0.4 less than here, and a July average high of 93°F against 91°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Port Chicago, CA, 22 miles west, averaged 71°F in August and 51°F in January over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Port Chicago tide gauge, 22 miles from Bethel Island, has risen 0.77 ± 0.23 inches per decade from 1976 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 7.7 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 36 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 56 | 40 | 2.7 | 6 | 51 |
| Feb | 61 | 44 | 2.4 | 6 | 52 |
| Mar | 67 | 47 | 2.0 | 5 | 55 |
| Apr | 72 | 50 | 0.9 | 2 | 60 |
| May | 79 | 54 | 0.4 | 1 | 64 |
| Jun | 86 | 59 | 0.1 | 0 | 68 |
| Jul | 91 | 61 | 0.0 | 0 | 70 |
| Aug | 90 | 60 | 0.0 | 0 | 71 |
| Sep | 87 | 59 | 0.1 | 0 | 70 |
| Oct | 78 | 54 | 0.4 | 1 | 65 |
| Nov | 65 | 46 | 1.2 | 3 | 59 |
| Dec | 56 | 40 | 2.5 | 6 | 52 |
| Year | 74 | 51 | 12.7 | 30 | 61 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Antioch Pumping Plt #3, CA (60 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Port Chicago, 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.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Flood insurance policyholders in Bethel Island's ZIP code 94511 have filed 38 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $313,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 45% 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, 194 have fewer than Bethel Island.
Contra Costa County, which includes Bethel Island, has been named in 21 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 16 of them major disasters (by incident: 8 floods, 6 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 2 coastal storms). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, on January 14, 2023. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Contra Costa County a Very High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for inland flooding; Relatively High for lightning and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for coastal flooding; Relatively Low for tornadoes and strong wind; Very Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $970.5 million a year, the 8th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $412.5 million (42%), 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.