NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Garden Valley, 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 Garden Valley, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 8 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 8
- 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 Garden Valley
The highest rating among the 8 tornadoes within 25 miles is F1 or EF1, reached 5 times; the most recent, on December 24, 2015, came within 14 miles. Of the 8, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 4 have come since 2000. The most recent tornado was on November 18, 2020. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 68% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Garden Valley. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 3 times since 2015, with stones up to 1 inch (quarter size). Of the 705 California cities, 44% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Garden Valley.
Compare Garden Valley's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Garden Valley
By decade
- 2020s1
- 2010s3
- 1990s1
- 1980s2
- 1970s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 24, 2015 | EF1 | 14 mi | 6.21 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 22, 2012 | EF1 | 20 mi | 4.02 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 23, 2010 | EF1 | 18 mi | 1.99 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 19, 1988 | F1 | 21 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 22, 1983 | F1 | 25 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 18, 2020 | EF0 | 14 mi | 4.39 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 23, 1990 | F0 | 18 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 1, 1972 | F0 | 18 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 8 of 8, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Garden Valley
The Storm Prediction Center has 3 hail reports within 10 miles of Garden Valley since 2015. Of these, one was 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest, 1 inch (quarter size), fell on November 15, 2015. The most recent report is from May 21, 2019.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Garden Valley
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Auburn, CA, 15 miles west of Garden Valley at 1,292 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 93°F and low of 63°F; December is the coolest, at 56°F and 37°F. January is the wettest at 7.0 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 36.1 inches over 48 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 63 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 20 nights a year. That 36.1 inches is more than at 193 of the 226 California stations used on this site (85%). Georgetown, 7 miles north, has its own station (Colfax, CA): 45.9 inches a year, 9.8 more than here, and a July average high of 92°F against 93°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 56 | 38 | 7.0 | 8 |
| Feb | 59 | 40 | 6.5 | 8 |
| Mar | 63 | 42 | 6.1 | 7 |
| Apr | 68 | 45 | 2.8 | 5 |
| May | 77 | 52 | 1.7 | 3 |
| Jun | 86 | 58 | 0.4 | 1 |
| Jul | 93 | 63 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Aug | 92 | 63 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Sep | 87 | 60 | 0.2 | 1 |
| Oct | 77 | 52 | 1.4 | 2 |
| Nov | 64 | 43 | 3.1 | 5 |
| Dec | 56 | 37 | 6.8 | 8 |
| Year | 73 | 49 | 36.1 | 48 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Auburn, CA (1,292 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 Garden Valley
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 24 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Garden Valley: 16 floods, 6 heavy rain events and 2 thunderstorm wind reports. They killed 1 person and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $647,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 47 mph, on January 10, 2023.
January 3, 2023: flood 4 miles from the centre of Garden Valley — 1 killed.
NWS: “On January 3 in El Dorado County, a 33 year-old male drowned in the South Fork of the American River near Coloma, CA. It is unknown how he ended up in the river.”
February 17, 2017: flood 6 miles from the centre of Garden Valley — $500,000 damage.
December 31, 2022: flood 9 miles from the centre of Garden Valley — $100,000 damage.
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
El Dorado County, which includes Garden Valley, has been named in 27 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1964, 16 of them major disasters (by incident: 8 floods, 8 severe storms, 7 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 El Dorado County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for inland flooding and lightning; Relatively Low for strong wind and heat waves; Very Low for tornadoes and hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $124.3 million a year, the 34th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $55.9 million (45%), 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 Garden Valley
- Georgetown, CA7 mi
- Placerville, CA8 mi
- Cool, CA8 mi
- Diamond Springs, CA10 mi
- Camino, CA10 mi
- Rescue, CA13 mi
- Foresthill, CA13 mi
- El Dorado, CA14 mi
- Applegate, CA14 mi
- Auburn, CA15 mi
- Meadow Vista, CA15 mi
- Cameron Park, CA16 mi
All California cities →All hurricanes since 1851 →Compare Garden Valley with another place →