Novato

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 Marin County, the county that contains Novato.

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 Marin County, the county that contains Novato.

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.

High tide flooding

Tide gauges in Marin County.

1. High tide flooding days are days on which a NOAA tide gauge recorded water at or above NOAA's minor flood threshold, set from the gauge's tide range, counted by meteorological year (May to April). These are the counts in NOAA's annual high tide flooding reports; they are not National Weather Service flood stages. Years with less than 80 percent of data are left out.

NOAA CO-OPS high tide flooding counts, through April 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

The drought index is for Marin County, the county that contains Novato.

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 Marin 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.

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 Marin County.

Mapped by CA GS (4,561), NASA (36), USGS CA SF Bay Dec 2022 - Jan 2023 (14), USGS Conterminous (5).

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. Dec 31, 2005Flood$108 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Widespread severe flooding affected many towns in Marin County including Fairfax, San Anselmo, Novato, Inverness, Ross and Mill Valley. Across the County, 1600 homes, 240 businesses and 225 government agencies were affected by the flood. San Anselmo was under 2 feet of water with an estimated 150 of its 250 businesses damaged and a price tag of around $40 million. Fairfax is looking at a $25 million tab and Ross around $13 million. An estimated 4 to 7 inches of rain fell on the County in a 24 hour period preceding the flood. The flooding continued into the first few days of January 2006.

2. Jan 1, 2006Flood$108 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding from heavy rains in late December continued into the early morning of January 1st. Hardest hit areas in the County were Fairfax, San Anselmo, Novato, Inverness, Ross and Mill Valley. Across the County, 1600 homes, 240 businesses and 225 Government agencies were affected by the flood. San Anselmo was under 2 feet of water with an estimated 150 of its 230 businesses damaged at a price tag of around $40 million.

3. Apr 1, 2006Debris Flow, North Bay Interior Valleys$14.4 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Persistent heavy rainfall caused a massive number of landslides across the Sonoma and Marin County valleys area during the first half of April. About $20 million of damage was done to agriculture, with over $9 million spent in road repair damage in Sonoma County alone. Over $5 million worth of damage was done to single family dwellings in Sonoma - with lesser (but still substantial) amounts of damage experienced to businesses and public buildings. In Marin county the hardest hit areas were Mill Valley, Fairfax and San Rafael. In Mill Valley a man was killed after he was buried in a mudslide in his back yeard.

4. Dec 11, 2014Flash Flood$4.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall produced significant rises on Novato Creek between highways 101 and 37 on the east side of the city of Novato. This led to an intentional breach of the levee on a 20 foot section to prevent floodwaters from reaching downtown businesses and nearby subdivisions. This same flooding also resulted in failure of a smaller portion of the levee and overtopped another section. Caltrans levees on highway 37 were breached and a culvert was washed out.

5. Feb 6, 1998Flash Flood$1.5 million
6. Dec 11, 2014Debris Flow$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A significant mudslide occurred along Tennessee Valley Road.

7. Dec 11, 2014Debris Flow$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A slide under sixty feet of Highway 1 near Muir Beach resulted in a full closure of the road which is expected to last for several months.

8. Mar 25, 2011Debris Flow, North Bay Interior Valleys$855,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   In San Anselmo heavy rain and strong wind caused mudslides, trees to blow down and power poles to topple. The following are other damage reports from around the city. On Florence Road trees fell into the public right of way blocking the roadway and crushing a car. It also took down several PGE, cable and telephone poles. On Woodruff Ave, a mudslide traveled 1/4 mile down the road carrying structure debris and blocking a main intersection that accesses 12 homes. On Scenic Ave, a mudslide entered a roadway and wind blew down a few power poles. At 29 Summit Ave, a mudslide closed roads; caused water, gas and sewer lines to break and took out numerous trees. On Redwood Rd, the road…

9. Dec 27, 2006Strong Wind, Coastal North Bay Including Point Reyes National Seashore$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds - sustained at least up to 30 mph hit the Marin County Coast - causing a tree to fall on a restaurant.

10. Jan 20, 2010Strong Wind, North Bay Interior Valleys$435,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Strong winds and saturated soil combined to knock over a 50-foot Douglas fir tree along Turnagain Road in Kentfield. In Sonoma, a fallen tree smashed a home. In Santa Rosa, a tree crashed down onto a home on Proctor Drive rendering it uninhabitable. In Yountville a 150- to 200-year-old Coast Live Oak toppled next to a home on Humboldt Street causing damage to a fence. Also in Santa Rosa, A 50-foot-plus Cedar tree came down onto a home on Manor Drive damaging the back area of the house. Along State Route 12, a tree fell onto a moving vehicle just east of Glen Ellen causing closure of the roadway. In Sonoma, a redwood tree fell through the roof of the K building at Sonoma Valley…

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

112°FJul 11, 1913

All-time low

17°FDec 31, 1915

Warmest night

75°FMay 15, 2008

Coldest day

31°FJan 20, 1922

Wettest day

11.56 inJan 21, 1967

Snowiest day

1.0 inDec 25, 1948

Hottest year

2014mean 61.5°F

Coldest year

1922mean 54.5°F

Wettest year

198394.38 in

Driest year

20137.80 in

Station Kentfield (USC00044500), 145 ft elevation, 8.9 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1902 to October 26, 2026; 94.4% 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 Marin 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 USC00044500.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Tide gauges NOAA CO-OPS high tide flooding counts, 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.
• 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.