NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Fortuna, 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 Fortuna, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 1 tornado has touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 1
- 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 Fortuna
The only tornado within 25 miles was an EF0 on January 25, 2018; its path came within 16 miles. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 96% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Fortuna. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 3 times since 2017, with stones up to 0.75 inches (penny size). Of the 705 California cities, 44% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Fortuna.
Compare Fortuna's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Fortuna
By decade
- 2010s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 25, 2018 | EF0 | 16 mi | 0.04 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 1 of 1, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Fortuna
The Storm Prediction Center has 3 hail reports within 10 miles of Fortuna since 2017. None of them reached 1 inch. The largest, 0.75 inches (penny size), fell on March 5, 2017. The most recent report is from March 14, 2020.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Fortuna
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Scotia, CA, 7 miles south of Fortuna at 136 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 72°F and low of 54°F; December is the coolest, at 55°F and 42°F. December is the wettest at 9.7 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.1 inches; the year adds up to 47.7 inches over 75 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 2 days a year. Lows fall below freezing on about 6 nights a year. That 47.7 inches is more than at 213 of the 226 California stations used on this site (94%). Eureka, 13 miles north, has its own station (Eureka WFO Woodley Island, CA): 40.5 inches a year, 7.2 less than here, and an August average high of 64°F against 72°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station North Spit, CA, 13 miles north, averaged 56°F in August and 50°F in February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the North Spit tide gauge, 13 miles from Fortuna, has risen 2.00 ± 0.14 inches per decade from 1977 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 20.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 119 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 57 | 43 | 8.6 | 12 | 51 |
| Feb | 58 | 43 | 7.8 | 11 | 50 |
| Mar | 59 | 44 | 6.9 | 11 | 50 |
| Apr | 62 | 45 | 3.9 | 8 | 51 |
| May | 64 | 49 | 1.9 | 5 | 52 |
| Jun | 67 | 51 | 0.6 | 2 | 54 |
| Jul | 70 | 54 | 0.1 | 0 | 55 |
| Aug | 72 | 54 | 0.1 | 0 | 56 |
| Sep | 73 | 52 | 0.5 | 1 | 56 |
| Oct | 69 | 48 | 2.4 | 4 | 55 |
| Nov | 61 | 45 | 5.2 | 9 | 53 |
| Dec | 55 | 42 | 9.7 | 12 | 52 |
| Year | 64 | 47 | 47.7 | 75 | 53 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Scotia, CA (136 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station North Spit, 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.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Fortuna
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 47 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Fortuna: 36 floods, 9 heavy rain events and 2 thunderstorm wind reports. They killed 1 person and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $3.6 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 58 mph, on February 19, 2024.
February 27, 2019: flood 5 miles from the centre of Fortuna — 1 killed.
April 5, 2018: heavy rain event 5 miles from the centre of Fortuna — 1 injured, $1,000 damage.
NWS: “Heavy rain caused a sink hole to form, which partially swallowed a car resulting in one injury.”
January 9, 2017: heavy rain event 4 miles from the centre of Fortuna — $3.0 million damage.
NWS: “Scouring and damage to the supports of the Fernbridge bridge over the Eel River on Highway 211.”
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
Humboldt County, which includes Fortuna, has been named in 27 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1964, 22 of them major disasters (by incident: 12 floods, 8 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 1 coastal storm). 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 Humboldt County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for inland flooding and coastal flooding; Relatively Low for lightning and heat waves; Very Low for tornadoes, hail and strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $188.6 million a year, the 26th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $51.1 million (27%), 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.