NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Napa, 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 Napa, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 9 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 9
- 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 Napa
The highest rating among the 9 tornadoes within 25 miles is F1 or EF1, reached 3 times; the most recent, on March 18, 2011, came within 24 miles. Of the 9, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 5 have come since 2000. The most recent tornado was on April 27, 2016. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 63% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Napa. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 3 times since 1983, with stones up to 1.75 inches (golf ball size). Of the 705 California cities, 44% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Napa.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Napa
By decade
- 2010s3
- 2000s2
- 1990s3
- 1980s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 18, 2011 | EF1 | 24 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 5, 1998 | F1 | 24 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 27, 1983 | F1 | 24 mi | 0.8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 27, 2016 | EF0 | 16 mi | 0.19 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 7, 2011 | EF0 | 11 mi | 0.11 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 11, 2005 | F0 | 17 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 29, 2004 | F0 | 24 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 12, 1998 | F0 | 17 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 23, 1996 | F0 | 12 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 1 |
The strongest 9 of 9, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Napa
The Storm Prediction Center has 3 hail reports within 10 miles of Napa since 1983. Of these, one was 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest, 1.75 inches (golf ball size), fell on August 19, 1983. The most recent report is from September 26, 2014.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Napa
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Napa State Hospital, CA, 4 miles southeast of Napa at 35 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 84°F and low of 56°F; December is the coolest, at 59°F and 40°F. December is the wettest at 5.5 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 26.7 inches over 46 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 33 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 12 nights a year. That 26.7 inches is more than at 174 of the 226 California stations used on this site (77%). Yountville, 7 miles northwest, has its own station (Sonoma, CA): 28.3 inches a year, 1.6 more than here, and an August average high of 86°F against 84°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Martinez-Amorco Pier, CA, 22 miles southeast, averaged 71°F in August and 51°F in January over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Port Chicago tide gauge, 23 miles from Napa, has risen 0.77 ± 0.23 inches per decade from 1976 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 7.7 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 36 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 59 | 40 | 5.0 | 9 | 51 |
| Feb | 63 | 42 | 5.1 | 8 | 53 |
| Mar | 68 | 44 | 3.7 | 7 | 55 |
| Apr | 72 | 46 | 1.7 | 4 | 60 |
| May | 77 | 50 | 1.1 | 2 | 64 |
| Jun | 82 | 54 | 0.3 | 1 | 67 |
| Jul | 83 | 56 | 0.0 | 0 | 69 |
| Aug | 84 | 56 | 0.1 | 0 | 71 |
| Sep | 84 | 53 | 0.1 | 0 | 69 |
| Oct | 78 | 49 | 1.3 | 2 | 66 |
| Nov | 66 | 44 | 2.8 | 5 | 59 |
| Dec | 59 | 40 | 5.5 | 8 | 53 |
| Year | 73 | 48 | 26.7 | 46 | 61 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Napa State Hospital, CA (35 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Martinez-Amorco Pier, CA, 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.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Napa
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 48 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Napa: 38 floods, 5 heavy rain events, 4 flash floods and 1 lightning strike. They killed 2 people and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $147.7 million in property and crop damage.
May 5, 2009: heavy rain event 10 miles from the centre of Napa — 1 killed, 1 injured, $50,000 damage.
January 16, 2019: heavy rain event 7 miles from the centre of Napa — 1 killed.
January 1, 2006: flood 10 miles from the centre of Napa — $147.5 million damage.
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 Napa's 2 ZIP codes have filed 1,159 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $25.8 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1995: 622 claims (54% of all) and $9.7 million, then Pineapple Express - Southern in 1998 with 27. 56% 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, 410 have fewer than Napa.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1995 | 622 | $9.7 million |
| Pineapple Express - Southern1998 | 27 | $172,000 |
Napa County, which includes Napa, has been named in 39 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1964, 24 of them major disasters (by incident: 13 fires, 10 severe storms, 8 floods, 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 Napa County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for inland flooding; Relatively Moderate for coastal flooding; Relatively Low for 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 $186.0 million a year, the 27th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $89.8 million (48%), 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 Napa
- Yountville, CA7 mi
- Sonoma, CA10 mi
- American Canyon, CA11 mi
- Glen Ellen, CA13 mi
- Fairfield, CA14 mi
- Suisun City, CA15 mi
- Vallejo, CA15 mi
- Saint Helena, CA16 mi
- Vacaville, CA18 mi
- Angwin, CA19 mi
- Benicia, CA19 mi
- Crockett, CA19 mi
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