NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Covington, WA
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 Covington, Washington since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 11 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 1 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 11
- EF3 or stronger
- 1
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
no recorded deaths
What the records show for Covington
The strongest of the 11 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F3 on December 12, 1969; its path came within 15 miles. Of the 11, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 4 have come since 2000. June and September have had the most tornadoes, 3 each. The most recent tornado was on January 18, 2015. Covington has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 73% of the 226 Washington cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles once, in 1972, with stones of 1.5 inches (ping pong ball size). Covington has more hail reports within 10 miles than 46% of the 226 Washington cities.
Compare Covington's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Covington
By decade
- 2010s2
- 2000s2
- 1990s2
- 1970s2
- 1960s3(1 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 12, 1969 | F3 | 15 mi | 3.8 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jan 18, 2015 | EF1 | 22 mi | 4.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 30, 2013 | EF1 | 22 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 6, 2009 | EF1 | 12 mi | 9.6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 27, 2001 | F1 | 13 mi | 2.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 31, 1997 | F1 | 18 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 12, 1978 | F1 | 20 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 22, 1971 | F1 | 10 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 28, 1962 | F1 | 13 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 23, 1996 | F0 | 19 mi | 0.4 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 18, 1964 | F0 | 10 mi | 5.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 11 of 11, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Covington
The Storm Prediction Center has one hail report within 10 miles of Covington, from June 8, 1972: 1.5 inches (ping pong ball size).
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Covington
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Kent, WA, 7 miles northwest of Covington at 30 feet. July and August are the warmest, with an average high of 78°F and low of 57°F; December is the coolest, at 47°F and 35°F. November is the wettest at 6.2 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 0.7 inches; the year adds up to 40.3 inches over 97 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 4 days a year, almost all from July to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 39 nights a year. That 40.3 inches is more than at 49 of the 86 Washington stations used on this site (57%). Maple Valley, 4 miles east, has its own station (Landsburg, WA): 59.8 inches a year, 19.5 more than here, and a July average high of 77°F against 78°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Tacoma, WA, 16 miles southwest, averaged 56°F in September and 48°F in March over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Seattle tide gauge, 20 miles from Covington, has risen 0.82 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1899 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 8.2 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 42 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 48 | 36 | 5.8 | 13 | 49 |
| Feb | 51 | 36 | 4.0 | 10 | 48 |
| Mar | 56 | 39 | 4.4 | 11 | 48 |
| Apr | 61 | 43 | 3.1 | 9 | 49 |
| May | 68 | 49 | 2.1 | 6 | 51 |
| Jun | 72 | 53 | 1.7 | 5 | 53 |
| Jul | 78 | 57 | 0.7 | 2 | 55 |
| Aug | 78 | 57 | 0.9 | 3 | 56 |
| Sep | 73 | 52 | 1.5 | 4 | 56 |
| Oct | 61 | 46 | 4.1 | 9 | 55 |
| Nov | 53 | 39 | 6.2 | 12 | 53 |
| Dec | 47 | 35 | 5.8 | 12 | 51 |
| Year | 62 | 45 | 40.3 | 97 | 52 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Kent, WA (30 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Tacoma, WA, 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 Covington
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 5 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Covington: 2 lightning strikes, 1 flood, 1 heavy rain event and 1 thunderstorm wind report. They killed 1 person and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $3.0 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 45 mph, on May 13, 2013.
January 6, 2022: heavy rain event 7 miles from the centre of Covington — 1 killed.
July 13, 2012: lightning strike 10 miles from the centre of Covington — 1 injured, $1,000 damage.
December 12, 2010: flood 2 miles from the centre of Covington — $3.0 million damage.
NWS: “There was major flooding along the Snoqualmie River. Westside Hwy on Vashon island was closed due to a portion of the road sinking.”
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
King County, which includes Covington, has been named in 35 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1964, 31 of them major disasters (by incident: 17 floods, 11 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 2 earthquakes). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, on April 7, 2026. FEMA's National Risk Index gives King County a Very High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for inland flooding; Relatively High for heat waves; Relatively Moderate for tornadoes, coastal flooding and lightning; Very Low for hail and strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $1.68 billion a year, the highest of 39 Washington counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $416.9 million (25%), 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.