NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Selma, 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 Selma, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 35 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 35
- 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 Selma
The highest rating among the 35 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2, reached 2 times; the most recent, on April 5, 1980, came within 14 miles. Of the 35, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 10 have come since 2000. March has had the most tornadoes, 11. The most recent tornado was on January 17, 2019. Selma has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 85% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 9 times since 1995, with stones up to 1.5 inches (ping pong ball size). Selma has more hail reports within 10 miles than 85% of the 705 California cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Selma
By decade
- 2010s4
- 2000s6
- 1990s11
- 1980s8
- 1970s3
- 1960s2
- 1950s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 5, 1980 | F2 | 14 mi | 15 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Mar 22, 1962 | F2 | 19 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 17, 2019 | EF1 | 19 mi | 0.25 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 22, 1996 | F1 | 24 mi | 0.8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 28, 1991 | F1 | 18 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Mar 8, 1986 | F1 | in town | 4 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 28, 1982 | F1 | in town | 5 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Feb 19, 1980 | F1 | 15 mi | 1.7 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Mar 14, 1979 | F1 | 4 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 19, 1957 | F1 | 15 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 22, 2018 | EF0 | 21 mi | 1.19 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 12, 2018 | EF0 | 9 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 35, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Selma
The Storm Prediction Center has 9 hail reports within 10 miles of Selma since 1995, made on 8 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 April 4, 2006. The most recent report is from October 29, 2007.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Selma
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Fresno Yosemite International Airport, CA, 16 miles north of Selma at 333 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 98°F and low of 69°F; December is the coolest, at 55°F and 40°F. January is the wettest at 2.2 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 11.0 inches over 26 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 113 days a year, almost all from April to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 11 nights a year. That 11.0 inches is more than at 49 of the 226 California stations used on this site (22%). Kingsburg, 6 miles southeast, has its own station (Hanford Municipal Airport, CA): 8.2 inches a year, 2.8 less than here, and the same July average high, 98°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 55 | 41 | 2.2 | 5 |
| Feb | 61 | 43 | 1.9 | 5 |
| Mar | 68 | 47 | 1.9 | 4 |
| Apr | 74 | 51 | 1.0 | 2 |
| May | 83 | 58 | 0.4 | 1 |
| Jun | 91 | 64 | 0.2 | 0 |
| Jul | 98 | 69 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Aug | 97 | 68 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Sep | 91 | 63 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Oct | 79 | 55 | 0.6 | 1 |
| Nov | 65 | 45 | 0.9 | 2 |
| Dec | 55 | 40 | 1.8 | 4 |
| Year | 76 | 54 | 11.0 | 26 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Fresno Yosemite International Airport, CA (333 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 Selma
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 55 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Selma: 36 floods, 18 thunderstorm wind reports and 1 heavy rain event. They killed 0 people and injured 15, and the NWS estimated $1.2 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 58 mph, on May 31, 2002.
May 19, 1997: thunderstorm wind 3 miles from the centre of Selma — 15 injured, $150,000 damage.
June 19, 2017: flood 7 miles from the centre of Selma — $500,000 damage.
May 31, 2002: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Selma — $200,000 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
Fresno County, which includes Selma, 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.
Cities near Selma
- Fowler, CA5 mi
- Kingsburg, CA6 mi
- Parlier, CA6 mi
- Del Rey, CA6 mi
- Laton, CA11 mi
- Reedley, CA11 mi
- Caruthers, CA12 mi
- Sanger, CA12 mi
- Dinuba, CA13 mi
- Hanford, CA17 mi
- Fresno, CA17 mi
- Orange Cove, CA18 mi
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