NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Lacey, WA
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 Lacey, Washington since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 13 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 13
- 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 Lacey
The strongest of the 13 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F2 on November 10, 1965; its path came within 25 miles. Of the 13, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 7 have come since 2000. October has had the most tornadoes, 3. The most recent tornado was on October 18, 2019. Lacey has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 77% of the 226 Washington cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 2 times since 1983, with stones up to 0.75 inches (penny size). Lacey has more hail reports within 10 miles than 60% of the 226 Washington cities.
Compare Lacey's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Lacey
By decade
- 2010s4
- 2000s3
- 1990s3
- 1980s1
- 1970s1
- 1960s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 10, 1965 | F2 | 25 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 18, 2019 | EF1 | 17 mi | 0.68 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 18, 2015 | EF1 | 22 mi | 4.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 30, 2013 | EF1 | 21 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 27, 2004 | F1 | 17 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 31, 1997 | F1 | 20 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 12, 1978 | F1 | 21 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 28, 2006 | F0 | 6 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 15, 2003 | F0 | 12 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 23, 1996 | F0 | 22 mi | 0.4 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 6, 1994 | F0 | 19 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 24, 1981 | F0 | 10 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 13, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Lacey
The Storm Prediction Center has 2 hail reports within 10 miles of Lacey, all from August 27, 1983. None of them reached 1 inch. The largest was 0.75 inches (penny size).
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Lacey
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Olympia Airport, WA, 7 miles southwest of Lacey at 188 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 78°F and low of 51°F; December is the coolest, at 45°F and 33°F. November is the wettest at 8.2 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 0.5 inches; the year adds up to 50.8 inches over 105 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 7 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 77 nights a year. Snowfall averages 3.9 inches a year, most of it in January. That 50.8 inches is more than at 62 of the 86 Washington stations used on this site (72%). Dupont, 8 miles east, has its own station (Tacoma Narrows Airport, WA): 42.1 inches a year, 8.7 less than here, and an August average high of 76°F against 78°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Tacoma, WA, 23 miles northeast, averaged 56°F in September and 48°F in March over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Seattle tide gauge, 44 miles from Lacey, has risen 0.82 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1899 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 8.2 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 42 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 46 | 33 | 7.8 | 14 | 2.0 | 49 |
| Feb | 49 | 32 | 5.1 | 11 | 0.6 | 48 |
| Mar | 54 | 35 | 5.7 | 13 | 0.1 | 48 |
| Apr | 59 | 38 | 3.7 | 10 | 0.0 | 49 |
| May | 66 | 43 | 2.3 | 7 | 0.0 | 51 |
| Jun | 71 | 47 | 1.5 | 4 | 0.0 | 53 |
| Jul | 78 | 51 | 0.5 | 2 | 0.0 | 55 |
| Aug | 78 | 51 | 1.0 | 2 | 0.0 | 56 |
| Sep | 72 | 46 | 2.0 | 5 | 0.0 | 56 |
| Oct | 60 | 41 | 5.1 | 10 | 0.0 | 55 |
| Nov | 51 | 36 | 8.2 | 14 | 0.0 | 53 |
| Dec | 45 | 33 | 7.9 | 14 | 1.2 | 51 |
| Year | 61 | 40 | 50.8 | 105 | 3.9 | 52 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Olympia Airport, WA (188 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Tacoma, WA, from NOAA Tides & Currents. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Flood insurance policyholders in Lacey's 2 ZIP codes have filed 10 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1981, and were paid $187,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 40% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 128 Washington cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 0 have fewer than Lacey.
Thurston County, which includes Lacey, has been named in 30 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 26 of them major disasters (by incident: 14 floods, 9 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 2 earthquakes). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, on April 7, 2026. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Thurston County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for inland flooding and heat waves; Relatively Low for coastal flooding, strong wind and lightning; Very Low for tornadoes and hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $190.6 million a year, the 5th highest of 39 Washington counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $49.7 million (26%), 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.