NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Fife, 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 Fife, Washington since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 14 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 1 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 14
- 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 Fife
The strongest of the 14 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F3 on December 12, 1969; its path came within 18 miles. Of the 14, one had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 6 have come since 2000. September has had the most tornadoes, 4. The most recent tornado was on December 18, 2018. Fife has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 84% of the 226 Washington cities on this site.
Compare Fife's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Fife
By decade
- 2010s3
- 2000s3
- 1990s2
- 1980s1
- 1970s2
- 1960s3(1 EF3+)
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 12, 1969 | F3 | 18 mi | 3.8 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Dec 18, 2018 | EF2 | 23 mi | 1.35 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 18, 2015 | EF1 | 12 mi | 4.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 30, 2013 | EF1 | 11 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 6, 2009 | EF1 | 11 mi | 9.6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 27, 2001 | F1 | 9 mi | 2.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 31, 1997 | F1 | 4 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 12, 1978 | F1 | 8 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 22, 1971 | F1 | 11 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 28, 1962 | F1 | 18 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 15, 2003 | F0 | 24 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 23, 1996 | F0 | 8 mi | 0.4 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 14, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Fife
The Storm Prediction Center has no hail reports within 10 miles of Fife since 1955.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Fife
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Tacoma #1, WA, 3 miles west of Fife at 25 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 77°F and low of 57°F; December is the coolest, at 47°F and 37°F. November is the wettest at 6.5 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 0.6 inches; the year adds up to 40.8 inches over 96 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 1 days a year. Lows fall below freezing on about 27 nights a year. That 40.8 inches is more than at 50 of the 86 Washington stations used on this site (58%). Puyallup, 7 miles southeast, has its own station (Mcmillin Rsvr, WA): 45.2 inches a year, 4.4 more than here, and a July average high of 76°F against 77°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Tacoma, WA, 3 miles northwest, 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, 25 miles from Fife, 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 | 37 | 6.0 | 13 | 49 |
| Feb | 50 | 37 | 4.0 | 10 | 48 |
| Mar | 55 | 40 | 4.4 | 12 | 48 |
| Apr | 60 | 44 | 3.4 | 9 | 49 |
| May | 67 | 49 | 2.0 | 6 | 51 |
| Jun | 71 | 53 | 1.4 | 4 | 53 |
| Jul | 77 | 57 | 0.6 | 2 | 55 |
| Aug | 77 | 57 | 0.8 | 2 | 56 |
| Sep | 71 | 53 | 1.6 | 4 | 56 |
| Oct | 61 | 47 | 4.1 | 9 | 55 |
| Nov | 52 | 41 | 6.5 | 13 | 53 |
| Dec | 47 | 37 | 6.0 | 14 | 51 |
| Year | 61 | 46 | 40.8 | 96 | 52 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Tacoma #1, WA (25 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 Fife
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 9 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Fife: 3 lightning strikes, 2 floods, 2 heavy rain events and 2 thunderstorm wind reports. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $9.0 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 45 mph, on May 13, 2013.
January 7, 2009: flood in Fife — $8.8 million damage.
NWS: “There was flooding along the Puyallup River, some homes and businesses in Sumner flooded. Towns along the river had evacuation orders in place.”
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 Fife's ZIP code 98424 have filed 11 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1990, and were paid $56,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 27% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 128 Washington cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 3 have fewer than Fife.
Pierce County, which includes Fife, has been named in 26 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1964, 22 of them major disasters (by incident: 11 floods, 8 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 Pierce County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for inland flooding, 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 $531.9 million a year, the 2nd highest of 39 Washington counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $121.6 million (23%), 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.