NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Oroville, 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 Oroville, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 20 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 20
- 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 Oroville
The highest rating among the 20 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2 or EF2, reached 2 times; the most recent, on May 25, 2011, came within 7 miles. Of the 20, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 9 have come since 2000. May has had the most tornadoes, 4. The most recent tornado was on November 18, 2020. Oroville has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 64% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 2 times since 2001, with stones up to 1 inch (quarter size). Of the 705 California cities, 57% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Oroville.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Oroville
By decade
- 2020s1
- 2010s6
- 2000s2
- 1990s8
- 1980s1
- 1970s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 25, 2011 | EF2 | 7 mi | 0.21 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 10, 1994 | F2 | 2 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 2 |
| May 25, 2011 | EF1 | 14 mi | 26.37 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 25, 2011 | EF1 | 19 mi | 21.65 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 8, 2005 | F1 | 5 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 7, 1993 | F1 | 12 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 17, 1992 | F1 | 15 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 17, 1992 | F1 | 2 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 4 |
| Mar 23, 1978 | F1 | 18 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 28, 1970 | F1 | 15 mi | 2.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 18, 2020 | EF0 | 9 mi | 0.47 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 25, 2014 | EF0 | 15 mi | 0.26 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 20, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Oroville
The Storm Prediction Center has 2 hail reports within 10 miles of Oroville, all from February 22, 2001. All were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest was 1 inch (quarter size).
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Oroville
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Oroville, CA, 1 mile west of Oroville at 171 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 97°F and low of 63°F; January and December are the coolest, at 58°F and 40°F. January is the wettest at 5.8 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 30.5 inches over 48 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 97 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 16 nights a year. That 30.5 inches is more than at 181 of the 226 California stations used on this site (80%). Biggs, 12 miles southwest, has its own station (Oroville Municipal Airport, CA): 25.6 inches a year, 4.9 less than here, and a July average high of 96°F against 97°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 58 | 40 | 5.8 | 8 |
| Feb | 62 | 42 | 5.6 | 8 |
| Mar | 68 | 46 | 4.7 | 7 |
| Apr | 74 | 48 | 2.2 | 4 |
| May | 82 | 54 | 1.4 | 3 |
| Jun | 91 | 59 | 0.6 | 1 |
| Jul | 97 | 63 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Aug | 96 | 61 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Sep | 90 | 57 | 0.4 | 1 |
| Oct | 79 | 51 | 1.3 | 3 |
| Nov | 66 | 45 | 2.9 | 5 |
| Dec | 58 | 40 | 5.5 | 8 |
| Year | 77 | 51 | 30.5 | 48 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Oroville, CA (171 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 Oroville
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 31 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Oroville: 19 floods, 10 heavy rain events and 2 thunderstorm wind reports. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $4.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 58 mph, on March 4, 1996.
September 18, 2019: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Oroville — $4.0 million damage.
December 11, 2014: flood 5 miles from the centre of Oroville — $250,000 damage.
NWS: “There were 25 homes with minor flooding in Palermo.”
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 Oroville's 2 ZIP codes have filed 59 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1986, and were paid $1.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1995: 25 claims (42% of all) and $777,000. 42% 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, 257 have fewer than Oroville.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1995 | 25 | $777,000 |
Butte County, which includes Oroville, has been named in 39 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1964, 20 of them major disasters (by incident: 17 fires, 9 severe storms, 6 floods, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storms, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, on April 13, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Butte County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for inland flooding, lightning and heat waves; Relatively Low for tornadoes and hail; Very Low for strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $127.2 million a year, the 33rd highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $48.2 million (38%), 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 Oroville
- Biggs, CA12 mi
- Gridley, CA15 mi
- Durham, CA16 mi
- Paradise, CA16 mi
- Live Oak, CA20 mi
- Chico, CA23 mi
- Marysville, CA25 mi
- Magalia, CA26 mi
- Sutter, CA27 mi
- Penn Valley, CA28 mi
- Beale Afb, CA29 mi
- Yuba City, CA29 mi
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