NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Willits, 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 Willits, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 2 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 2
- 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 Willits
The strongest of the 2 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F1 on December 5, 1998; its path came within 23 miles. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 91% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Willits.
Compare Willits's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Willits
By decade
- 1990s1
- 1980s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 5, 1998 | F1 | 23 mi | 1.7 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 11, 1983 | F0 | 22 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 2 of 2, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Willits
The Storm Prediction Center has no hail reports within 10 miles of Willits since 1955.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Willits
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Willits 1 NE, CA, 3 miles southeast of Willits at 1,353 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 84°F and low of 48°F; December is the coolest, at 53°F and 32°F. December is the wettest at 9.8 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 49.3 inches over 69 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 27 days a year, almost all from June to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 95 nights a year. That 49.3 inches is more than at 214 of the 226 California stations used on this site (95%). Redwood Valley, 14 miles southeast, has its own station (Potter Valley Powerhouse, CA): 45.1 inches a year, 4.2 less than here, and a July average high of 95°F against 84°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 54 | 33 | 9.2 | 12 |
| Feb | 56 | 34 | 8.6 | 10 |
| Mar | 59 | 36 | 7.1 | 10 |
| Apr | 62 | 37 | 3.4 | 7 |
| May | 69 | 40 | 1.8 | 4 |
| Jun | 76 | 44 | 0.5 | 1 |
| Jul | 84 | 48 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Aug | 83 | 46 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Sep | 82 | 42 | 0.4 | 1 |
| Oct | 72 | 37 | 2.6 | 4 |
| Nov | 60 | 35 | 5.8 | 9 |
| Dec | 53 | 32 | 9.8 | 11 |
| Year | 67 | 39 | 49.3 | 69 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Willits 1 NE, CA (1,353 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 Willits
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 19 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Willits: 11 floods and 8 heavy rain events. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $3.3 million in property and crop damage.
January 6, 2017: heavy rain event 3 miles from the centre of Willits — $2.0 million damage.
NWS: “Slope failure along the Willits Bypass.”
January 6, 2017: heavy rain event 5 miles from the centre of Willits — $1.3 million damage.
NWS: “Two landslides and a slip out between post miles 20 and 26 along Highway 20 in Mendocino County requiring slide removal and slope stabilization.”
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 Willits's ZIP code 95490 have filed 16 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1982, and were paid $38,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 50% 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, 59 have fewer than Willits.
Mendocino County, which includes Willits, has been named in 33 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1964, 25 of them major disasters (by incident: 11 floods, 9 severe storms, 6 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 Mendocino County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for inland flooding; Relatively Low for coastal flooding, lightning and heat waves; Very Low for tornadoes, hail and strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $116.7 million a year, the 35th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $55.9 million (48%), 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 Willits
- Redwood Valley, CA14 mi
- Fort Bragg, CA21 mi
- Ukiah, CA22 mi
- Mendocino, CA24 mi
- Upper Lake, CA32 mi
- Nice, CA36 mi
- Lakeport, CA37 mi
- Lucerne, CA40 mi
- Gualala, CA45 mi
- Kelseyville, CA47 mi
- Cloverdale, CA50 mi
- Garberville, CA50 mi
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