NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Jamestown, 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 Jamestown, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 5 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 5
- 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 Jamestown
The highest rating among the 5 tornadoes within 25 miles is F1 or EF1, reached 4 times; the most recent, on March 11, 2023, came within 5 miles. Of the 5, one had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 3 have come since 2000. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 79% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Jamestown.
Compare Jamestown's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Jamestown
By decade
- 2020s2
- 2010s1
- 1990s1
- 1970s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 11, 2023 | EF1 | 5 mi | 0.8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 10, 2023 | EF1 | 21 mi | 0.39 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 12, 1996 | F1 | 21 mi | 0.6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 4, 1978 | F1 | 25 mi | 2.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 27, 2016 | EF0 | 22 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 5 of 5, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Jamestown
The Storm Prediction Center has no hail reports within 10 miles of Jamestown since 1955.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Jamestown
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Sonora, CA, 9 miles northeast of Jamestown at 1,675 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 93°F and low of 57°F; December is the coolest, at 55°F and 32°F. January is the wettest at 6.3 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 32.6 inches over 48 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 75 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 66 nights a year. That 32.6 inches is more than at 186 of the 226 California stations used on this site (82%). Copperopolis, 10 miles northwest, has its own station (New Melones Dam Hq, CA): 29.9 inches a year, 2.7 less than here, and a July average high of 97°F against 93°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 56 | 33 | 6.3 | 8 |
| Feb | 58 | 34 | 5.5 | 8 |
| Mar | 62 | 37 | 5.4 | 7 |
| Apr | 67 | 40 | 3.0 | 5 |
| May | 76 | 46 | 1.5 | 3 |
| Jun | 85 | 51 | 0.3 | 1 |
| Jul | 93 | 57 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Aug | 92 | 56 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Sep | 87 | 51 | 0.2 | 1 |
| Oct | 76 | 43 | 1.6 | 3 |
| Nov | 63 | 36 | 3.2 | 5 |
| Dec | 55 | 32 | 5.5 | 8 |
| Year | 72 | 43 | 32.6 | 48 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Sonora, CA (1,675 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 Jamestown
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 13 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Jamestown: 9 floods, 2 flash floods and 2 thunderstorm wind reports. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $42.1 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 61 mph, on March 11, 2023.
March 4, 2023: flood 5 miles from the centre of Jamestown — $42.0 million damage.
NWS: “All public entities in Tuolumne County completed a preliminary estimate of storm damage for February through April, with costs well over $42 million.”
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
Tuolumne County, which includes Jamestown, has been named in 22 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1964, 15 of them major disasters (by incident: 7 floods, 6 severe storms, 5 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 Tuolumne County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for inland flooding, 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 $50.6 million a year, the 44th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $18.6 million (37%), 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 Jamestown
- Copperopolis, CA10 mi
- Sonora, CA12 mi
- La Grange, CA13 mi
- Tuolumne, CA16 mi
- Angels Camp, CA16 mi
- Twain Harte, CA19 mi
- Murphys, CA19 mi
- Coulterville, CA20 mi
- Waterford, CA20 mi
- Oakdale, CA20 mi
- San Andreas, CA24 mi
- Groveland, CA24 mi
All California cities →All hurricanes since 1851 →Compare Jamestown with another place →