NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Fresno, 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 Fresno, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 32 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 32
- 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 Fresno
The strongest of the 32 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F2 on March 22, 1962; its path came within 2 miles. Of the 32, 7 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 11 have come since 2000. March has had the most tornadoes, 8. The most recent tornado was on March 1, 2024. Fresno has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 83% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 23 times since 1957, with stones up to 1.75 inches (golf ball size). Fresno is tied for the most hail reports within 10 miles among the 705 California cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Fresno
By decade
- 2020s1
- 2010s3
- 2000s7
- 1990s8
- 1980s4
- 1970s3
- 1960s3
- 1950s3
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 22, 1962 | F2 | 2 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 17, 2019 | EF1 | 13 mi | 0.25 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 20, 2002 | F1 | 18 mi | 2.7 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 8, 1986 | F1 | 18 mi | 4 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 28, 1982 | F1 | 17 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Feb 19, 1980 | F1 | 4 mi | 1.7 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Mar 14, 1979 | F1 | 14 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 21, 1967 | F1 | 20 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 19, 1957 | F1 | 6 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 1, 2024 | EF0 | 22 mi | 0.42 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 12, 2018 | EF0 | 17 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 18, 2010 | EF0 | 4 mi | 0.53 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 32, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Fresno
The Storm Prediction Center has 23 hail reports within 10 miles of Fresno since 1957, made on 16 separate days. Of these, 7 were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest, 1.75 inches (golf ball size), fell on May 13, 1957. The most recent report is from April 12, 2010. May has the most reports, 6.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Fresno
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Fresno Yosemite International Airport, CA, 4 miles east of Fresno at 333 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 98°F and low of 69°F; December is the coolest, at 55°F and 40°F. January is the wettest at 2.2 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 11.0 inches over 26 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 113 days a year, almost all from April to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 11 nights a year. That 11.0 inches is more than at 49 of the 226 California stations used on this site (22%). Caruthers, 17 miles south, has its own station (Lemoore Reeves NAS, CA): 7.1 inches a year, 3.9 less than here, and the same July average high, 98°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 55 | 41 | 2.2 | 5 |
| Feb | 61 | 43 | 1.9 | 5 |
| Mar | 68 | 47 | 1.9 | 4 |
| Apr | 74 | 51 | 1.0 | 2 |
| May | 83 | 58 | 0.4 | 1 |
| Jun | 91 | 64 | 0.2 | 0 |
| Jul | 98 | 69 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Aug | 97 | 68 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Sep | 91 | 63 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Oct | 79 | 55 | 0.6 | 1 |
| Nov | 65 | 45 | 0.9 | 2 |
| Dec | 55 | 40 | 1.8 | 4 |
| Year | 76 | 54 | 11.0 | 26 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Fresno Yosemite International Airport, CA (333 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 Fresno
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 150 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Fresno: 88 floods, 32 heavy rain events, 21 thunderstorm wind reports, 7 flash floods and 2 lightning strikes. They killed 2 people and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $19.5 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 69 mph, on May 23, 1996. October has had the most flash floods, 3 of 7. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 226 have had fewer than Fresno.
December 1, 2019: heavy rain event 9 miles from the centre of Fresno — 1 killed, $50,000 damage.
November 20, 2016: heavy rain event 4 miles from the centre of Fresno — 1 killed.
NWS: “Moderate to heavy rain in Fresno on Highway 99 north of Highway 41 interchange may have contributed to a fatal car crash around 1900 PST. The stretch of highway 99 was closed until around midnight 11/21 due to the crash investigation.”
February 28, 2014: lightning strike in Fresno — 1 injured.
NWS: “Lightning caused an injury to a man who was in an oil field near Fresno.”
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 Fresno's 16 ZIP codes have filed 150 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $959,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1995: 51 claims (34% of all) and $428,000. 36% 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, 352 have fewer than Fresno.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1995 | 51 | $428,000 |
Fresno County, which includes Fresno, has been named in 20 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 13 of them major disasters (by incident: 6 floods, 4 severe storms, 3 fires, 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 Fresno County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for hail, inland flooding, lightning and heat waves; Relatively Low for tornadoes; Very Low for strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $557.3 million a year, the 13th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $166.1 million (30%), 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.
Cities near Fresno
- Pinedale, CA4 mi
- Clovis, CA10 mi
- Fowler, CA12 mi
- Del Rey, CA14 mi
- Sanger, CA14 mi
- Caruthers, CA17 mi
- Selma, CA17 mi
- Kerman, CA18 mi
- Friant, CA18 mi
- Madera, CA18 mi
- Parlier, CA18 mi
- Reedley, CA23 mi
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