NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Vancouver, 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 Vancouver, Washington since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 30 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 1 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 30
- EF3 or stronger
- 1
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
6 deaths in all
What the records show for Vancouver
The strongest of the 30 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F3 on April 5, 1972; its path came within 3 miles, and it killed 6 people. Of the 30, 4 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 19 have come since 2000. October has had the most tornadoes, 6. The most recent tornado was on October 11, 2023. Vancouver has more tornadoes within 25 miles than any other of the 226 Washington cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 8 times since 1976, with stones up to 1.5 inches (ping pong ball size). Vancouver has more hail reports within 10 miles than 91% of the 226 Washington cities.
Compare Vancouver's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Vancouver
By decade
- 2020s4
- 2010s7
- 2000s8
- 1990s6
- 1980s2
- 1970s2(1 EF3+)
- 1950s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 5, 1972 | F3 | 3 mi | 8.7 mi | 6 / 300 |
| Dec 8, 1993 | F2 | 24 mi | 6 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 10, 2015 | EF1 | 7 mi | 0.82 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 10, 2008 | EF1 | 3 mi | 10.11 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 9, 2000 | F1 | 23 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 12, 1991 | F1 | 21 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 12, 1991 | F1 | 13 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jun 29, 1989 | F1 | 16 mi | 1.6 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Oct 13, 1984 | F1 | 17 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 16, 1978 | F1 | 16 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 12, 1957 | F1 | 25 mi | 2.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 11, 2023 | EF0 | 15 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 30, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Vancouver
The Storm Prediction Center has 8 hail reports within 10 miles of Vancouver since 1976. Of these, 3 were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest, 1.5 inches (ping pong ball size), fell on July 31, 1991. The most recent report is from May 2, 2007.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Vancouver
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Vancouver 4 NNE, WA, 3 miles northwest of Vancouver at 210 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 79°F and low of 52°F; December is the coolest, at 45°F and 32°F. December is the wettest at 6.8 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 0.5 inches; the year adds up to 42.2 inches over 103 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 10 days a year, almost all from July to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 66 nights a year. Snowfall averages 0.8 inches a year, most of it in January. That 42.2 inches is more than at 54 of the 86 Washington stations used on this site (63%). Brush Prairie, 7 miles northeast, has its own station (Battle Ground, WA): 52.3 inches a year, 10.1 more than here, and an August average high of 80°F against 79°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Snow in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 45 | 32 | 6.1 | 13 | 0.5 |
| Feb | 49 | 32 | 4.1 | 10 | 0.1 |
| Mar | 54 | 35 | 4.4 | 12 | 0.0 |
| Apr | 59 | 38 | 3.6 | 10 | 0.0 |
| May | 66 | 44 | 2.8 | 8 | 0.0 |
| Jun | 71 | 49 | 1.8 | 5 | 0.0 |
| Jul | 78 | 53 | 0.5 | 1 | 0.0 |
| Aug | 79 | 52 | 0.6 | 2 | 0.0 |
| Sep | 74 | 47 | 1.6 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Oct | 62 | 41 | 3.6 | 9 | 0.0 |
| Nov | 51 | 36 | 6.3 | 14 | 0.0 |
| Dec | 45 | 32 | 6.8 | 15 | 0.2 |
| Year | 61 | 41 | 42.2 | 103 | 0.8 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Vancouver 4 NNE, WA (210 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 Vancouver
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 30 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Vancouver: 12 heavy rain events, 9 floods and 9 thunderstorm wind reports. They killed 1 person and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $3.7 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 93 mph, on June 6, 2026.
November 6, 2021: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Vancouver — 1 killed, 2 injured.
December 7, 2015: heavy rain event 5 miles from the centre of Vancouver — $1.8 million damage.
NWS: “Heavy rain resulted in urban flooding across the Vancouver metro area. SE Mill PLain was closed between 172nd and 192nd due to deep standing water.”
June 1, 2011: flood 9 miles from the centre of Vancouver — $1.2 million damage.
NWS: “Heavy rain combined with snowmelt runoff to produce flooding on the Columbia River. 43 feet at 07:30 am on June 2nd, 2011.”
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 Vancouver's 11 ZIP codes have filed 35 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1980, and were paid $386,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1996: 11 claims (31% of all) and $179,000. 54% 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, 48 have fewer than Vancouver.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1996 | 11 | $179,000 |
Clark County, which includes Vancouver, has been named in 17 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1964, 14 of them major disasters (by incident: 6 severe storms, 5 floods, 2 biological emergencies, 1 coastal storm). 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 Clark County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Moderate for inland flooding, strong wind, lightning and heat waves; Relatively Low for tornadoes; Very Low for hail and coastal flooding. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $157.5 million a year, the 7th highest of 39 Washington counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $68.3 million (43%), 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 Vancouver
- Brush Prairie, WA7 mi
- Camas, WA9 mi
- Battle Ground, WA10 mi
- Portland, OR10 mi
- Fairview, OR11 mi
- Ridgefield, WA11 mi
- Troutdale, OR13 mi
- Gresham, OR14 mi
- La Center, WA15 mi
- Happy Valley, OR15 mi
- Washougal, WA15 mi
- Yacolt, WA16 mi
All Washington cities →All hurricanes since 1851 →Compare Vancouver with another place →