NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Golden, CO
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 Golden, Colorado since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 81 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 1 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 81
- EF3 or stronger
- 1
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
no recorded deaths
What the records show for Golden
The strongest of the 81 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F3 on June 15, 1988; its path came within 16 miles. Of the 81, one had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 16 have come since 2000. June has had the most tornadoes, 41. The most recent tornado was on June 22, 2023. Golden has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 52% of the 157 Colorado cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 306 times since 1960, with stones up to 3 inches (tea cup size). Golden has more hail reports within 10 miles than 80% of the 157 Colorado cities.
Compare Golden's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Golden
By decade
- 2020s2
- 2010s9
- 2000s5
- 1990s19
- 1980s27(1 EF3+)
- 1970s8
- 1960s10
- 1950s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 15, 1988 | F3 | 16 mi | 2.5 mi | 0 / 7 |
| Jun 15, 1988 | F2 | 16 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 5, 1988 | F2 | 15 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 5, 1988 | F2 | 21 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 8, 1986 | F2 | 18 mi | 1.1 mi | 0 / 6 |
| Jun 3, 1981 | F2 | 15 mi | 2.3 mi | 0 / 42 |
| Jun 3, 1981 | F2 | 10 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 15, 1980 | F2 | 18 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 30, 1976 | F2 | 19 mi | 5.4 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 22, 2023 | EF1 | 19 mi | 6.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 24, 2015 | EF1 | 18 mi | 2.8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 8, 2014 | EF1 | 23 mi | 0.25 mi | 0 / 1 |
The strongest 12 of 81, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Golden
The Storm Prediction Center has 306 hail reports within 10 miles of Golden since 1960, made on 135 separate days. Of these, 218 were 1 inch across or larger, and 19 reached 2 inches. The largest, 3 inches (tea cup size), fell on June 13, 1984. The most recent report is from August 23, 2025. June has the most reports, 121.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Golden
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Ralston Rsvr, CO, 4 miles north of Golden at 5,900 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 87°F and low of 61°F; December is the coolest, at 45°F and 23°F. May is the wettest at 3.0 inches of precipitation on average and January and December the driest at 0.7 inches; the year adds up to 18.7 inches over 45 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 28 days a year, almost all from June to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 133 nights a year. Snowfall averages 62.5 inches a year, most of it in March. That 18.7 inches is more than at 72 of the 91 Colorado stations used on this site (79%). Wheat Ridge, 7 miles east, has its own station (Wheat Ridge 2, CO): 17.1 inches a year, 1.6 less than here, and a July average high of 88°F against 87°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 45 | 23 | 0.7 | 2 | 8.0 |
| Feb | 46 | 22 | 0.9 | 3 | 9.8 |
| Mar | 54 | 29 | 1.7 | 4 | 11.4 |
| Apr | 60 | 35 | 2.5 | 6 | 9.9 |
| May | 69 | 45 | 3.0 | 6 | 1.4 |
| Jun | 81 | 55 | 1.7 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 87 | 61 | 1.7 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 84 | 59 | 1.8 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 76 | 51 | 1.8 | 4 | 0.4 |
| Oct | 64 | 39 | 1.3 | 4 | 3.9 |
| Nov | 53 | 30 | 0.9 | 3 | 8.7 |
| Dec | 45 | 23 | 0.7 | 2 | 9.0 |
| Year | 64 | 39 | 18.7 | 45 | 62.5 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Ralston Rsvr, CO (5,900 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 Golden
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 37 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Golden: 22 thunderstorm wind reports, 9 lightning strikes, 4 flash floods, 1 flood and 1 heavy rain event. They killed 3 people and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $392,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 77 mph, on March 30, 2014.
July 19, 2016: lightning strike 9 miles from the centre of Golden — 1 killed, 1 injured.
July 27, 2007: lightning strike 9 miles from the centre of Golden — 1 killed, $5,000 damage.
July 20, 2019: flash flood 7 miles from the centre of Golden — 1 killed.
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 Golden's 2 ZIP codes have filed 46 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1980, and were paid $248,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Late summer storms in 2013: 10 claims (22% of all) and $226,000. 22% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 56 Colorado cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 36 have fewer than Golden.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Late summer storms2013 | 10 | $226,000 |
Jefferson County, which includes Golden, has been named in 15 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 6 of them major disasters (by incident: 5 fires, 5 floods, 2 biological emergencies, 2 snowstorms). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Flooding, and Tornadoes, on August 25, 2023. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Jefferson County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for hail and lightning; Relatively High for tornadoes, inland flooding and strong wind; Relatively Low for heat waves. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $231.4 million a year, the highest of 64 Colorado counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $77.4 million (33%), 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.