NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Colton, 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 Colton, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 15 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 15
- 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 Colton
The strongest of the 15 tornadoes within 25 miles was an EF2 on May 22, 2008; its path came within 13 miles. Of the 15, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 9 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 4. The most recent tornado was on September 9, 2012. Colton has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 52% of the 705 California cities on this site.
Compare Colton's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Colton
By decade
- 2010s2
- 2000s7
- 1990s3
- 1980s1
- 1970s1
- 1950s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 22, 2008 | EF2 | 13 mi | 2.8 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Sep 9, 2012 | EF0 | 20 mi | 0.01 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 12, 2012 | EF0 | 21 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 22, 2008 | EF0 | 18 mi | 0.36 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 22, 2008 | EF0 | 13 mi | 0.96 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 22, 2008 | EF0 | 16 mi | 0.89 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jul 23, 2006 | F0 | 25 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 4, 2005 | F0 | 7 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 26, 2005 | F0 | 25 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 6, 1997 | F0 | 25 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 20, 1991 | F0 | 8 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 20, 1991 | F0 | 9 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 15, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Colton
The Storm Prediction Center has no hail reports within 10 miles of Colton since 1955.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Colton
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Riverside Citrus Exp, CA, 7 miles south of Colton at 986 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 97°F and low of 64°F; December is the coolest, at 69°F and 43°F. February is the wettest at 2.5 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 9.9 inches over 21 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 103 days a year, almost all from March to November. Lows fall below freezing on about 2 nights a year. That 9.9 inches is more than at 41 of the 226 California stations used on this site (18%). Loma Linda, 4 miles east, has its own station (Redlands, CA): 12.9 inches a year, 3.0 more than here, and an August average high of 96°F against 97°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 70 | 44 | 2.1 | 5 |
| Feb | 70 | 45 | 2.5 | 5 |
| Mar | 72 | 47 | 1.5 | 4 |
| Apr | 75 | 50 | 0.6 | 2 |
| May | 80 | 55 | 0.3 | 1 |
| Jun | 87 | 58 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Jul | 94 | 63 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Aug | 97 | 64 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Sep | 93 | 61 | 0.2 | 0 |
| Oct | 82 | 55 | 0.4 | 1 |
| Nov | 76 | 47 | 0.7 | 1 |
| Dec | 69 | 43 | 1.5 | 3 |
| Year | 80 | 53 | 9.9 | 21 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Riverside Citrus Exp, CA (986 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 Colton
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 80 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Colton: 37 floods, 19 flash floods, 11 heavy rain events, 7 thunderstorm wind reports and 6 lightning strikes. They killed 2 people and injured 8, and the NWS estimated $2.7 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 75 mph, on August 9, 1998. November has had the most flash floods, 4 of 19. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 434 have had fewer than Colton.
June 3, 2009: lightning strike 7 miles from the centre of Colton — 1 killed, 6 injured, $1,000 damage.
January 10, 2005: flash flood 9 miles from the centre of Colton — 1 killed, $10,000 damage.
October 1, 2010: lightning strike 7 miles from the centre of Colton — 1 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 Colton's ZIP code 92324 have filed 17 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1983, and were paid $178,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 29% 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, 68 have fewer than Colton.
San Bernardino County, which includes Colton, has been named in 61 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 30 of them major disasters (by incident: 33 fires, 13 floods, 7 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies). 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 San Bernardino County a Very High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for inland flooding; Relatively High for strong wind, lightning and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for tornadoes and hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $2.08 billion a year, the 3rd highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $959.6 million (46%), 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.