East Palo Alto

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond this area.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Flood insurance figures are for San Mateo County, the county that contains East Palo Alto.

Claims by ZIP code

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).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

River gauges in San Mateo County, the county that contains East Palo Alto.

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

The drought index is for San Mateo County, the county that contains East Palo Alto.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the city centre.
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Tsunamis

Tsunami records for San Mateo County.

1. Places where NOAA's Global Historical Tsunami Database records a tsunami's water arriving, with the greatest height it reached above sea level at the time. Only tsunamis NOAA rates probable or definite are counted. Heights from eyewitness accounts and tide gauges are mixed, and older events are less completely recorded.

NOAA NCEI/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Mapped landslides

Landslides mapped in San Mateo County.

Mapped by CA GS (4,791), USGS CA SF Bay Dec 2022 - Jan 2023 (36), NASA (18), USGS Earthquake-Triggered Ground Failure (15), USGS Conterminous (5), West Coast Slow Moving (Yuankun and others, 2021) (1).

1. Landslides mapped in the USGS compilation of landslide inventories across the United States (version 3.0, 2025), rated probable or better. The compilation joins inventories made by federal and state agencies for different purposes and areas, so the number mapped in a county reflects how closely it has been surveyed as much as how often its slopes fail. An area with few records may simply not have been mapped. Deaths are as recorded in the inventories; a slide listed in two inventories is counted once.

USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0, retrieved October 27, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 4, 2006Debris Flow, Santa Cruz Mountains$13.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy and persistent rains in the Santa Cruz mountains during the first half of April caused many landslides. Damage was estimated at nearly $13 million, with at least $6 million charged to county road damages. At least 17 homes in Santa Cruz County were damaged, including 9 that were red-tagged.

2. Jan 1, 2006Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding from late December 2005 continued into the beginning of 2006. Several small streams overflowed due to the heavy rains and poor drainage problems. The bulk of the damage occurred in East Palo Alto, San Mateo, Daly City, Colma, Brisbane, San Bruno, South San Francisco and Pacifica. Around 2 to 3 inches of rain fell in the 24 hour period.

3. Dec 31, 2005Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread flooding occurred in the county, due to small streams over-flowing and poor drainage problems. The bulk of the damage occurred in East Palo Alto, San Mateo, Daly City, Colma, Brisbane, San Bruno, South San Francisco and Pacifica. Around 2 to 3 inches of rain fell on the area in a 24 hour period. The flooding continued into the first few days of January 2006.

4. Oct 13, 2009High Wind, San Francisco Bay Shoreline$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   High winds were reported throughout San Francisco Bay shoreline. Here are other measured peak wind gust reports from automated systems: Point San Pablo Bay Area Air Quality Management District - 74 mph and San Francisco Airport - 62 mph. The high winds knocked down power lines and trees causing hundreds of thousands of people to lose power. A huge oak tree crushed a house in Redwood City and brought down power lines. Also in Redwood City, dozens of trees were toppled, including at least two that hit houses or parked cars. Within San Mateo County at least 47 trees and 31 sets of power lines were knocked over. In Los Altos, three power lines and 18 trees were knocked down. Several…

5. Feb 13, 2000Heavy Rain$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The roof of a Home Depot collapsed due to the accumulation of heavy rain flooding the interior of the stor with 6 inches of rain and exposing the interior to continuing rain.

6. Oct 24, 2016Strong Wind, San Francisco Bay Shoreline$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   An 80-foot elm tree, three feet in diameter, was blown down in Berkeley and landed on an apartment building on College Avenue near Alcatraz Ave. No one was hurt and there was minimal structural damage.

7. Mar 4, 2001High Wind, San Mateo$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A strong storm system moved into the CWA on Sun Mar 4 producing strong SE winds. The strongest winds were around midday just ahead of the cold front that swept through the area. The winds produced heavy seas that caused some street flooding and beach erosion in Monterey county.

8. Mar 20, 2005Tornado$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   An F1 tornado touched down in South San Francisco damaging approximately 60 structures.

9. Nov 24, 2001High Wind, San Mateo$550,000
10. Dec 11, 2014Flash Flood$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Heavy rain caused flooding of several trailer parks in Redwood City. The combination of standing water and a local creek flooding resulted in the need for residents to be evacuated from the Le Mar Trailer Park and RC Mobile Home Park on E Bayshore in Redwood City. 50 mobile homes were evacuated and residents were sent to shelters.

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

105°FJun 14, 2000

All-time low

24°FDec 9, 1972

Warmest night

72°FSep 2, 2017

Coldest day

37°FDec 9, 1972

Wettest day

5.59 inJan 4, 1982

Snowiest day

1.5 inJan 21, 1962

Hottest year

2014mean 62.1°F

Coldest year

1946mean 54.6°F

Wettest year

198338.34 in

Driest year

20133.38 in

Station San Francisco International Airport (USW00023234), 10 ft elevation, 16.5 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1945 to October 27, 2026; 99.8% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

Declarations for San Mateo County.

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).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USW00023234.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Tsunamis NOAA NCEI/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database.
• Landslides USGS Landslide Inventories across the United States, version 3.0 (2025).
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.