NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Modesto, 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 Modesto, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 21 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 21
- 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 Modesto
The strongest of the 21 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F2 on April 27, 1953; its path passed within a mile of the city centre. Of the 21, 6 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 10 have come since 2000. April has had the most tornadoes, 10. The most recent tornado was on April 1, 2025. Modesto has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 67% of the 705 California cities on this site.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Modesto
By decade
- 2020s1
- 2010s4
- 2000s5
- 1990s3
- 1980s1
- 1970s4
- 1960s1
- 1950s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 27, 1953 | F2 | in town | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 15, 2015 | EF1 | 13 mi | 3.04 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 14, 2006 | F1 | in town | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 12, 1996 | F1 | 11 mi | 0.6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 4, 1978 | F1 | 18 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Mar 4, 1978 | F1 | 9 mi | 2.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 1, 1978 | F1 | 4 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 1, 1958 | F1 | 18 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 1, 2025 | EF0 | 4 mi | 0.9 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 27, 2016 | EF0 | 13 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 24, 2015 | EF0 | 4 mi | 0.23 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 11, 2012 | EF0 | 24 mi | 0.25 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 21, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Modesto
The Storm Prediction Center has no hail reports within 10 miles of Modesto since 1955.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Modesto
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Modesto City Co Airport, CA, 3 miles southeast of Modesto at 73 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 95°F and low of 63°F; December is the coolest, at 56°F and 39°F. January is the wettest at 2.6 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 12.5 inches over 30 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 90 days a year, almost all from April to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 12 nights a year. That 12.5 inches is more than at 74 of the 226 California stations used on this site (33%). Ripon, 9 miles northwest, has its own station (Stockton Metro Airport, CA): 13.5 inches a year, 1.0 more than here, and the same July average high, 95°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 56 | 39 | 2.6 | 6 |
| Feb | 62 | 42 | 2.2 | 6 |
| Mar | 68 | 45 | 1.8 | 5 |
| Apr | 74 | 48 | 1.0 | 3 |
| May | 82 | 54 | 0.7 | 2 |
| Jun | 90 | 59 | 0.2 | 0 |
| Jul | 95 | 63 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Aug | 94 | 62 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Sep | 89 | 59 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Oct | 79 | 52 | 0.6 | 1 |
| Nov | 66 | 43 | 1.1 | 3 |
| Dec | 56 | 39 | 2.2 | 6 |
| Year | 76 | 50 | 12.5 | 30 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Modesto City Co Airport, CA (73 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 Modesto
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 21 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Modesto: 10 floods, 10 heavy rain events and 1 thunderstorm wind report. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $400,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on December 24, 2015.
April 14, 2006: flood in Modesto — $250,000 damage.
December 24, 2015: thunderstorm wind 1 mile from the centre of Modesto — $150,000 damage.
NWS: “Straight line winds brought down trees at Coffee Rd. and Athens Rd.”
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 Modesto's 6 ZIP codes have filed 87 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1979, and were paid $2.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1997: 56 claims (64% of all) and $2.4 million. 70% 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, 300 have fewer than Modesto.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1997 | 56 | $2.4 million |
Stanislaus County, which includes Modesto, has been named in 20 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1964, 14 of them major disasters (by incident: 6 floods, 5 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 2 fires). 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 Stanislaus County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for inland flooding and lightning; Relatively Moderate for heat waves; Relatively Low for tornadoes, hail and strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $264.9 million a year, the 21st highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $94.2 million (36%), 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 Modesto
- Riverbank, CA6 mi
- Ceres, CA6 mi
- Salida, CA6 mi
- Keyes, CA8 mi
- Hughson, CA8 mi
- Ripon, CA9 mi
- Escalon, CA10 mi
- Oakdale, CA11 mi
- Turlock, CA13 mi
- Denair, CA14 mi
- Waterford, CA14 mi
- Patterson, CA15 mi
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