NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Lincoln, 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 Lincoln, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 25 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 25
- 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 Lincoln
The strongest of the 25 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F2 on February 7, 1978; its path came within 14 miles. Of the 25, one had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 18 have come since 2000. March has had the most tornadoes, 6. The most recent tornado was on November 18, 2020. Lincoln has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 75% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 3 times since 2015, with stones up to 1.25 inches (half dollar size). Of the 705 California cities, 44% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Lincoln.
Compare Lincoln's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Lincoln
By decade
- 2020s1
- 2010s12
- 2000s5
- 1990s2
- 1980s3
- 1970s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 7, 1978 | F2 | 14 mi | 1.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 24, 2015 | EF1 | 17 mi | 6.21 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 22, 2012 | EF1 | 15 mi | 4.02 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 22, 2012 | EF1 | 17 mi | 0.29 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 22, 2012 | EF1 | 21 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 19, 1988 | F1 | 17 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 22, 1983 | F1 | 9 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 18, 2020 | EF0 | 25 mi | 4.39 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 2, 2019 | EF0 | 22 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 21, 2018 | EF0 | 15 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 11, 2017 | EF0 | 21 mi | 0.42 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 9, 2017 | EF0 | 4 mi | 0.18 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 25, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Lincoln
The Storm Prediction Center has 3 hail reports within 10 miles of Lincoln since 2015. Of these, one was 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest, 1.25 inches (half dollar size), fell on October 2, 2016. The most recent report is from April 7, 2017.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Lincoln
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Auburn, CA, 12 miles east of Lincoln 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%). Roseville, 10 miles south, has its own station (Sacramento 5 ESE, CA): 19.2 inches a year, 16.9 less than here, and a July average high of 94°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 Lincoln
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 38 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Lincoln: 24 floods, 11 heavy rain events, 2 thunderstorm wind reports and 1 lightning strike. They killed 1 person and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $110,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 60 mph, on November 15, 2015.
February 7, 2024: flood 8 miles from the centre of Lincoln — 1 killed.
NWS: “California Highway Patrol and Placer County OES reported a fatality of a driver that drove through standing water on a flooded road, lost control, and flipped the vehicle, coming to a rest in standing water on Nicolaus Road near Marcum Road.”
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 Lincoln's ZIP code 95648 have filed 14 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1986, and were paid $170,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 50% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 415 California cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 36 have fewer than Lincoln.
Placer County, which includes Lincoln, has been named in 26 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1964, 13 of them major disasters (by incident: 9 fires, 6 floods, 6 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, on January 14, 2023. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Placer County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High 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 $162.6 million a year, the 28th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $107.3 million (66%), 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.