NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Rochester, WA
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 Rochester, Washington since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 8 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 8
- 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 Rochester
The strongest of the 8 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F2 on November 10, 1965; its path came within 12 miles. Of the 8, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 5 have come since 2000. The most recent tornado was on October 4, 2019. Rochester has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 57% of the 226 Washington cities on this site.
Compare Rochester's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Rochester
By decade
- 2010s2
- 2000s3
- 1990s2
- 1960s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 10, 1965 | F2 | 12 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 27, 2004 | F1 | 8 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 27, 2011 | EF0 | 19 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 28, 2006 | F0 | 20 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 15, 2003 | F0 | 24 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 26, 1997 | F0 | 23 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 6, 1994 | F0 | 6 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 4, 2019 | Unrated | 10 mi | 0.05 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 8 of 8, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Rochester
The Storm Prediction Center has no hail reports within 10 miles of Rochester since 1955.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Rochester
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Centralia, WA, 9 miles southeast of Rochester at 185 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 78°F and low of 53°F; December is the coolest, at 45°F and 34°F. November is the wettest at 6.5 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 0.5 inches; the year adds up to 41.4 inches over 100 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 8 days a year, almost all from June to August. Lows fall below freezing on about 48 nights a year. That 41.4 inches is more than at 51 of the 86 Washington stations used on this site (59%). Oakville, 8 miles west, has its own station (Elma, WA): 72.1 inches a year, 30.7 more than here, and an August average high of 80°F against 78°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 46 | 34 | 5.9 | 13 |
| Feb | 50 | 34 | 4.2 | 10 |
| Mar | 54 | 36 | 4.4 | 12 |
| Apr | 60 | 39 | 3.2 | 10 |
| May | 67 | 44 | 2.4 | 7 |
| Jun | 71 | 49 | 1.5 | 5 |
| Jul | 78 | 53 | 0.5 | 2 |
| Aug | 78 | 53 | 0.8 | 2 |
| Sep | 73 | 48 | 1.6 | 4 |
| Oct | 61 | 43 | 4.0 | 9 |
| Nov | 51 | 37 | 6.5 | 13 |
| Dec | 45 | 34 | 6.4 | 13 |
| Year | 61 | 42 | 41.4 | 100 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Centralia, WA (185 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 Rochester
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 6 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Rochester: 6 floods. They killed 2 people and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $13.5 million in property and crop damage.
January 6, 2022: flood 3 miles from the centre of Rochester — 2 killed, $3.4 million damage.
NWS: “Heavy rainfall of 6 to 10 inches, along with melting of remaining snow at lower elevations, lead to river flooding, significant urban and small stream flooding, and landslides. The peak of the rainfall was January 5 through January 7.”
January 7, 2009: flood 7 miles from the centre of Rochester — $8.4 million damage.
January 13, 2021: flood 8 miles from the centre of Rochester — $1.4 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 Rochester's ZIP code 98579 have filed 79 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1990, and were paid $1.5 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Winter storm in 2007: 31 claims (39% of all) and $750,000, then Flooding in 1996 with 23. 68% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 128 Washington cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 91 have fewer than Rochester.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Winter storm2007 | 31 | $750,000 |
| Flooding1996 | 23 | $314,000 |
Thurston County, which includes Rochester, has been named in 30 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 26 of them major disasters (by incident: 14 floods, 9 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 2 earthquakes). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, on April 7, 2026. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Thurston County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for inland flooding and heat waves; Relatively Low for coastal flooding, strong wind and lightning; Very Low for tornadoes and hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $190.6 million a year, the 5th highest of 39 Washington counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $49.7 million (26%), 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 Rochester
- Oakville, WA8 mi
- Centralia, WA9 mi
- Tumwater, WA12 mi
- Tenino, WA12 mi
- Chehalis, WA13 mi
- Olympia, WA18 mi
- Mccleary, WA19 mi
- Rainier, WA20 mi
- Lacey, WA21 mi
- Elma, WA22 mi
- Winlock, WA24 mi
- Yelm, WA25 mi
All Washington cities →All hurricanes since 1851 →Compare Rochester with another place →