Santa Clara

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 Santa Clara County, the county that contains Santa Clara.

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 Santa Clara County, the county that contains Santa Clara.

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 Santa Clara County, the county that contains Santa Clara.

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 Santa Clara 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 Santa Clara County.

Mapped by CA GS (3,620), USGS Earthquake-Triggered Ground Failure (180), NASA (11), USGS CA SF Bay Dec 2022 - Jan 2023 (7), USGS Conterminous (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 19, 2017Hail$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Damage dollar amounts is a low estimate. Impacts are not fully known, but any individual car crash would likely exceed this amount.

3. Jan 19, 2017Hail$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Damage dollar amounts is a low estimate. Impacts are not fully known, but any individual car crash would likely exceed this amount.

4. May 5, 1998Tornado$3.8 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A Tornado touched down in the Chevy Chase residential area of Sunnyvale, CA near Hwy 85. The storm survey assessed the Damage to 15 home and a large chucrch as a mininimal F2.. One woman was injured when struck by flying debris. The storm was well documented on a video shot by a person from their backyard. The storm appears to be rotating anticyclonically from this video. This storm apparently developed from thunderstorms that developed in the lee of the Santa Cruz mountains over the W Santa Clara Valley.

5. Dec 23, 2012Flood$2.7 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain caused San Francisquito Creek to flood and briefly overtop a levee in East Palo Alto. Numerous other seeps and areas where water bubbled through the levee were also noted in the area. Homes on Verbena Drive nearest the levee were evacuated. Officials placed sandbags on top of the levees to temporarily strengthen the flood defenses.

6. 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…

7. 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.

8. Nov 24, 2001High Wind, Santa Clara$1.0 million
9. Nov 20, 2010Strong Wind, Santa Cruz Mountains$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds combined with heavy rain dropped trees onto buildings, pushed cars off roads and caused power outages across the area. Power lines were knocked to the ground around 6:23 p.m. PST in the area of Empire Grade and Ice Cream Grade causing 800 customers to lose power. A total of 1100 customers lost power in Santa Cruz County. In another spot along Empire Grade downed power lines and trees blocked the entire road north of Smith Grade. Power lines also fell into trees along Lompico Road around 7 p.m. PST sparking a small fire. Power lines even fell onto a car on State Route 9 at Henry Cowell State Park around 7 p.m. PST. In Felton around 7:15 p.m. PST a tree fell through the…

10. Oct 27, 2009High Wind, Santa Clara Valley Including San Jose$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    At about 11:20 a.m. PDT a 75-ffot eucalyptus tree fell onto a townhouse complex in East San Jose along the 2900 block of Rose Avenue causing substantial damage.

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, 28.0 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 Santa Clara 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.