NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Woodlake, 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 Woodlake, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 11 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 11
- 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 Woodlake
The strongest of the 11 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F2 on April 5, 1980; its path came within 22 miles. Of the 11, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 4 have come since 2000. February has had the most tornadoes, 3. The most recent tornado was on March 22, 2018. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 55% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Woodlake. Hail has been reported within 10 miles once, in 2005, with stones of 0.75 inches (penny size). Of the 705 California cities, 72% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Woodlake.
Compare Woodlake's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Woodlake
By decade
- 2010s2
- 2000s2
- 1990s3
- 1980s4
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 5, 1980 | F2 | 22 mi | 15 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Feb 28, 1991 | F1 | 20 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Mar 22, 2018 | EF0 | 8 mi | 1.19 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 9, 2012 | EF0 | 24 mi | 0.27 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 27, 2008 | EF0 | 14 mi | 2.03 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 20, 2004 | F0 | 12 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 20, 1997 | F0 | 8 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 1, 1996 | F0 | 22 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 1, 1988 | F0 | 13 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 15, 1986 | F0 | 17 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 15, 1980 | F0 | 17 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 11 of 11, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Woodlake
The Storm Prediction Center has one hail report within 10 miles of Woodlake, from April 28, 2005: 0.75 inches (penny size).
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Woodlake
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Lemon Cove, CA, 6 miles southeast of Woodlake at 513 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 100°F and low of 65°F; December is the coolest, at 59°F and 37°F. January is the wettest at 2.7 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 14.1 inches over 31 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 125 days a year, almost all from April to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 16 nights a year. That 14.1 inches is more than at 93 of the 226 California stations used on this site (41%). Ivanhoe, 7 miles southwest, has its own station (Visalia, CA): 10.4 inches a year, 3.7 less than here, and a July average high of 94°F against 100°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 60 | 38 | 2.7 | 6 |
| Feb | 65 | 41 | 2.3 | 6 |
| Mar | 71 | 45 | 2.5 | 5 |
| Apr | 77 | 47 | 1.4 | 3 |
| May | 86 | 54 | 0.6 | 2 |
| Jun | 94 | 59 | 0.2 | 0 |
| Jul | 100 | 65 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Aug | 99 | 63 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Sep | 94 | 59 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Oct | 83 | 51 | 0.7 | 1 |
| Nov | 69 | 43 | 1.3 | 3 |
| Dec | 59 | 37 | 2.3 | 5 |
| Year | 80 | 50 | 14.1 | 31 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Lemon Cove, CA (513 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 Woodlake
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 38 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Woodlake: 32 floods, 3 flash floods and 3 thunderstorm wind reports. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $321,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 58 mph, on October 29, 2007.
January 7, 2017: flash flood 6 miles from the centre of Woodlake — $160,000 damage.
NWS: “California Highway Patrol reports that Highway 198 at Long Road is closed due to a mudslide just southwest of Kaweah Lake.”
April 4, 2006: flood 8 miles from the centre of Woodlake — $100,000 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
Flood insurance policyholders in Woodlake's ZIP code 93286 have filed 24 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1980, and were paid $616,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from California Atmospheric River in 2023: 17 claims (71% of all) and $597,000. 79% 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, 120 have fewer than Woodlake.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| California Atmospheric River2023 | 17 | $597,000 |
Tulare County, which includes Woodlake, has been named in 23 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1967, 15 of them major disasters (by incident: 8 floods, 4 fires, 4 severe storms, 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 Tulare County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for inland flooding, lightning and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for hail; Relatively Low for tornadoes and strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $214.1 million a year, the 23rd highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $130.3 million (61%), 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.