NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Garberville, 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 Garberville, 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 Garberville
The only tornado within 25 miles, on February 27, 2023, has no rating; its path came within 13 miles. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 96% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Garberville.
Compare Garberville's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Garberville
By decade
- 2020s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 27, 2023 | Unrated | 13 mi | 0.1 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 Garberville
The Storm Prediction Center has no hail reports within 10 miles of Garberville since 1955.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Garberville
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Richardson Gr Sp, CA, 5 miles south of Garberville at 503 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 54°F; December is the coolest, at 49°F and 38°F. December is the wettest at 14.0 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 65.3 inches over 70 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 30 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 22 nights a year. That 65.3 inches is more than at 222 of the 226 California stations used on this site (98%). Rio Dell, 32 miles northwest, has its own station (Scotia, CA): 47.7 inches a year, 17.6 less than here, and an August average high of 72°F against 87°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 50 | 39 | 12.7 | 13 |
| Feb | 53 | 40 | 11.3 | 11 |
| Mar | 59 | 41 | 9.7 | 9 |
| Apr | 64 | 42 | 5.1 | 6 |
| May | 72 | 47 | 1.9 | 4 |
| Jun | 77 | 51 | 0.8 | 1 |
| Jul | 86 | 54 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Aug | 87 | 54 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Sep | 83 | 50 | 0.4 | 1 |
| Oct | 70 | 45 | 2.7 | 3 |
| Nov | 55 | 41 | 6.7 | 9 |
| Dec | 49 | 38 | 14.0 | 12 |
| Year | 67 | 45 | 65.3 | 70 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Richardson Gr Sp, CA (503 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 Garberville
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 15 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Garberville: 10 heavy rain events, 4 floods and 1 thunderstorm wind report. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $8.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 60 mph, on January 3, 2026.
January 9, 2017: heavy rain event 10 miles from the centre of Garberville — $4.0 million damage.
NWS: “Eel River bank erosion including a landslide, drainage failures, and sinks from mile post 24 to 27 along Highway 101.”
January 17, 2017: heavy rain event 8 miles from the centre of Garberville — $3.0 million damage.
NWS: “Two sinks in the roadway around mile post 4 on Highway 254, Avenue of the Giants.”
January 17, 2017: heavy rain event 5 miles from the centre of Garberville — $1.5 million damage.
NWS: “Failed culverts along Highway 101 between mile posts 6 and 8.”
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 Garberville, 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.
Cities near Garberville
- Rio Dell, CA32 mi
- Fortuna, CA38 mi
- Ferndale, CA40 mi
- Fort Bragg, CA46 mi
- Eureka, CA50 mi
- Willits, CA50 mi
- Mendocino, CA54 mi
- Arcata, CA55 mi
- Mckinleyville, CA61 mi
- Redwood Valley, CA64 mi
- Trinidad, CA70 mi
- Ukiah, CA73 mi
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