NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Fontana, 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 Fontana, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 17 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 17
- 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 Fontana
The strongest of the 17 tornadoes within 25 miles was an EF2 on May 22, 2008; its path came within 19 miles. Of the 17, one had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 8 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 5. The most recent tornado was on May 22, 2008. Fontana has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 57% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles once, in 2005, with stones of 0.75 inches (penny size). Of the 705 California cities, 72% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Fontana.
Compare Fontana's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Fontana
By decade
- 2000s8
- 1990s3
- 1980s2
- 1970s2
- 1960s1
- 1950s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 22, 2008 | EF2 | 19 mi | 2.8 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Nov 25, 1965 | F1 | 18 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 22, 2008 | EF0 | 22 mi | 0.36 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 22, 2008 | EF0 | 19 mi | 0.96 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 22, 2008 | EF0 | 22 mi | 0.89 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 4, 2005 | F0 | 2 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 14, 2004 | F0 | 23 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 21, 2001 | F0 | 24 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 16, 2000 | F0 | 24 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 6, 1997 | F0 | 24 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 20, 1991 | F0 | 8 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 20, 1991 | F0 | 11 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 17, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Fontana
The Storm Prediction Center has one hail report within 10 miles of Fontana, from August 15, 2005: 0.75 inches (penny size).
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Fontana
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Ontario International Airport, CA, 9 miles west of Fontana at 949 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 95°F and low of 65°F; December is the coolest, at 67°F and 44°F. February is the wettest at 3.1 inches of precipitation on average and June and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 11.7 inches over 20 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 93 days a year, almost all from April to November. Lows fall below freezing on about 2 nights a year. That 11.7 inches is more than at 57 of the 226 California stations used on this site (25%). Bloomington, 4 miles southeast, has its own station (Riverside Citrus Exp, CA): 9.9 inches a year, 1.8 less than here, and an August average high of 97°F against 95°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 68 | 45 | 2.6 | 3 |
| Feb | 68 | 46 | 3.1 | 5 |
| Mar | 72 | 49 | 1.6 | 3 |
| Apr | 76 | 51 | 0.8 | 2 |
| May | 80 | 56 | 0.3 | 1 |
| Jun | 86 | 60 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Jul | 94 | 65 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Aug | 95 | 65 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Sep | 91 | 64 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Oct | 83 | 57 | 0.4 | 1 |
| Nov | 75 | 49 | 0.8 | 2 |
| Dec | 67 | 44 | 1.9 | 3 |
| Year | 79 | 54 | 11.7 | 20 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Ontario International Airport, CA (949 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 Fontana
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 87 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Fontana: 29 floods, 27 flash floods, 21 heavy rain events, 6 thunderstorm wind reports and 4 lightning strikes. They killed 4 people and injured 8, and the NWS estimated $659,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 70 mph, on August 29, 2013. January has had the most flash floods, 8 of 27. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 492 have had fewer than Fontana.
November 8, 2022: flash flood 10 miles from the centre of Fontana — 3 killed.
June 3, 2009: lightning strike 1 mile from the centre of Fontana — 1 killed, 6 injured, $1,000 damage.
NWS: “A was 40 year old female was struck and killed by lightning around 1530 PST while she was standing under a tree along the 8600 block of Bennett Avenue in Fontana. Six men were leaning against a metal fence near Electric Avenue and 40th Street in San Bernardino when lightning struck nearby.”
October 1, 2010: lightning strike 2 miles from the centre of Fontana — 1 injured.
NWS: “A construction worker suffered minor burns when lightning struck a nearby crane at the Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center at 0842 PST on October 1. The 50-year old man was thrown to the ground as a result of the strike.”
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 Fontana's 2 ZIP codes have filed 23 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $133,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 17% 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, 112 have fewer than Fontana.
San Bernardino County, which includes Fontana, 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.