NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Orange Cove, 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 Orange Cove, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 17 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 17
- 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 Orange Cove
The strongest of the 17 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F2 on April 5, 1980; its path came within 25 miles. Of the 17, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 6 have come since 2000. March has had the most tornadoes, 6. The most recent tornado was on January 17, 2019. Orange Cove has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 57% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 9 times since 1998, with stones up to 1.5 inches (ping pong ball size). Orange Cove has more hail reports within 10 miles than 85% of the 705 California cities.
Compare Orange Cove's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Orange Cove
By decade
- 2010s3
- 2000s3
- 1990s2
- 1980s7
- 1970s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 5, 1980 | F2 | 25 mi | 15 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jan 17, 2019 | EF1 | 20 mi | 0.25 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 28, 1991 | F1 | 20 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Mar 8, 1986 | F1 | 15 mi | 4 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 28, 1982 | F1 | 15 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Feb 19, 1980 | F1 | 25 mi | 1.7 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Mar 14, 1979 | F1 | 20 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 22, 2018 | EF0 | 10 mi | 1.19 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 12, 2018 | EF0 | 12 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 27, 2008 | EF0 | 20 mi | 2.03 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 9, 2005 | F0 | 21 mi | — | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 20, 2004 | F0 | 10 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 17, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Orange Cove
The Storm Prediction Center has 9 hail reports within 10 miles of Orange Cove since 1998, made on 7 separate days. Of these, 4 were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest, 1.5 inches (ping pong ball size), fell on May 28, 2009, the most recent report.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Orange Cove
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Visalia, CA, 20 miles south of Orange Cove at 303 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 94°F and low of 67°F; December is the coolest, at 55°F and 38°F. January is the wettest at 2.0 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 10.4 inches over 26 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 95 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 9 nights a year. That 10.4 inches is more than at 45 of the 226 California stations used on this site (20%). Reedley, 7 miles west, has its own station (Fresno Yosemite International Airport, CA): 11.0 inches a year, 0.6 more than here, and a July average high of 98°F against 94°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 55 | 38 | 2.0 | 5 |
| Feb | 61 | 42 | 1.6 | 5 |
| Mar | 67 | 45 | 1.8 | 4 |
| Apr | 73 | 49 | 1.0 | 2 |
| May | 81 | 55 | 0.4 | 1 |
| Jun | 89 | 62 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Jul | 94 | 67 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Aug | 93 | 65 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Sep | 88 | 60 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Oct | 78 | 52 | 0.6 | 1 |
| Nov | 64 | 43 | 1.0 | 2 |
| Dec | 55 | 38 | 1.8 | 4 |
| Year | 75 | 51 | 10.4 | 26 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Visalia, CA (303 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 Orange Cove
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 64 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Orange Cove: 46 floods, 11 thunderstorm wind reports, 3 heavy rain events, 2 flash floods and 2 lightning strikes. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $3.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 64 mph, on January 27, 2008.
May 28, 2009: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Orange Cove — $1.5 million damage.
June 24, 2024: lightning strike 9 miles from the centre of Orange Cove — $1.0 million damage.
February 28, 2014: thunderstorm wind 8 miles from the centre of Orange Cove — $500,000 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 Orange Cove's ZIP code 93646 have filed 14 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1983, and were paid $106,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 36% 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 Orange Cove.
Fresno County, which includes Orange Cove, has been named in 20 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 13 of them major disasters (by incident: 6 floods, 4 severe storms, 3 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 Fresno County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for hail, inland flooding, lightning and heat waves; Relatively Low for tornadoes; Very Low for strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $557.3 million a year, the 13th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $166.1 million (30%), 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.