Hanford

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 Kings County, the county that contains Hanford.

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.

The drought index is for Kings County, the county that contains Hanford.

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.

Volcanoes within 100 miles

1. U.S. volcanoes within 100 miles, from the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. The threat category is the USGS 2018 National Volcanic Threat Assessment, which ranks volcanoes by how hazardous their past eruptions were and how many people and how much infrastructure lie near them. It is not a forecast of eruption.

USGS Volcano Hazards Program, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Mapped landslides

Landslides mapped in Kings County.

Mapped by NASA (2).

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. Jan 8, 2017Flood$637,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   CalTrans reported accelerated pavement failure areas of Highway 41 across Kings County due to flood waters.

2. Nov 22, 1996Tornado$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   This was the major event of the day in the CWFA. Storm damage to the Lemoore Naval Air Station administrative section was substantial but no injuries occurred. Again, the tornado warning was issued on the basis of radar interpretation as land line reports were received late into the office. A meso-cyclone was depicted by the HNX WSR-88D for 4 volume scans from 1429 to 1447 PST. Damage included roof removal of the base recyling center, wind damage to roofs on several administrative structures, powerlines and poles, and fixed structures (static display aircraft).

3. Oct 5, 2011Heavy Rain$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Brief heavy rain caused a power transformer fire and a resulting house explosion. Rain amount measured at the Hanford ASOS were 0.13 inches.

4. Jan 14, 2022Dense Fog, Hanford - Corcoran - Lemoore$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Visibility below a quarter mile was reported in Hanford. Several webcams showed visibility below 1000 feet. Several school districts either opened late or delayed or cancelled bus service. A ten vehicle accident occured on eastbound SR 198 just east of the SR 99 exchange east of Hanford. Visibility was reported be below 100 feet at the time by California Highway Patrol. This resulted in SR 198 being closed for over two hours.

5. Sep 11, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Media report of a dairy farm south of Hanford having several barns with extensive roof damage from thunderstorm winds.

6. Dec 29, 2010Flood$75,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain caused widespread urban and poor drainage flooding on the morning of the 29th across much of the San Joaquin Valley. Especially hard hit were the metro areas of Fresno, Visalia, and Bakersfield, and the adjacent foothills.

7. Jan 2, 2006Flood$71,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Rainfall in excess of 2.5" in just over 30 hours lead to water covered roadways in several locations around Kings County. Hanford measured 2.82" of rain in that time period with the cities of Lemoore and Corcoran receiving just over 3" of rain. Ponding basins overflowed in the city of Lemoore and flooding occurred in smaller cities of Huron and Corcoran. Strong wind during the evening of the 2nd brought down several large trees in the city of Lemoore including one 100-year old tree onto a house.

8. Mar 24, 1998Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Gusty wind with a thunderstorm measured at 42 MPH at Lemoore Naval Air Station brought down 32 power poles in north Kings County. the power company indicated 20,000 customers were affected by the downed lines for up to 12 hours.

9. Sep 11, 2017Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Public report in Corcoran of Thunderstorm winds producing damage to a house and snapping several trees. Beams from a wood fence were snapped from from concrete support and shingles were blown off of a roof.

10. May 28, 2009Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    NWS Employee reported several power poles knocked down by high thunderstorm winds on the west side of Lemoore.

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

116°FJul 27, 1933

All-time low

14°F2 times, most recently Jan 7, 1913

Warmest night

84°F2 times, most recently Jul 18, 1925

Coldest day

30°F2 times, most recently Jan 11, 1921

Wettest day

2.49 inFeb 25, 2023

Hottest year

2014mean 66.9°F

Coldest year

1975mean 59.9°F

Wettest year

198315.57 in

Driest year

20132.24 in

Station Hanford 1 S (USC00043747), 237 ft elevation, 1.3 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1899 to October 26, 2026; 98.1% 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 Kings 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 USC00043747.
• 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.
• Volcanoes USGS Volcano Hazards Program, U.S. volcanoes and 2018 threat assessment.
• 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.