Shasta Lake

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 Shasta County, the county that contains Shasta Lake.

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 Shasta County, the county that contains Shasta Lake.

The National Weather Service sets flood stages for 1 gauge here but lists no crests for it.

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 Shasta County, the county that contains Shasta Lake.

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 Shasta County.

Mapped by NASA (8), USGS Conterminous (1), 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. Oct 16, 1999Wildfire$22.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Jones Incident was a civilian caused fire, but was aided by high winds and steep terrain. Four injuries and zero deaths were reported. The fire was responsible for burning over 26,000 acres as well as destroying 128 residences and 300 outbuildings. Fire suppression costs approached 4 million dollars.

2. Oct 1, 1999Wildfire$13.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Canyon Incident was an equipment caused fire, but was influenced by dry, north winds of 30 to 40 mph on September 27th and 28th. Four injuries and zero deaths were reported. The fire, which began September 27th, was responsible for burning over 2,500 acres as well as destroying 64 residences, 206 outbuildings, and 136 vehicles. Fire suppression costs totaled 1.4 million dollars.

3. Dec 21, 2025Flash Flood$7.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A Convergence Zone set up over Redding/Shasta County around 1 PM on Sunday, December 21. Heavy rain fell until around 7 PM, where there was a lull before another line redeveloped and brought additional moderate to heavy rain into the late evening. County officials reported numerous reports of widespread flash flooding, stranded vehicles, and road closures. Commercial and residential damage was reported to over 170 structures with preliminary damage estimates upwards of 7 million dollars, from both public and private. One fatality was reported. Rain estimates were around 3-7 in 9 hours over the Redding and Southern Shasta County Area.

4. Sep 26, 1999Wildfire$4.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The Canyon Incident was an equipment caused fire but was exacerbated by north, dry winds on the 27th and 28th. The winds were measured between 30 and 40 mph. One injury and zero deaths were reported. The fire was responsible for burning over 2,000 acres by months end as well as destroying 80 structures. Numerous vehicles and recreational vehicles were also lost.

5. Jul 30, 1997Wildfire$2.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Dry lightning started the Huffer Fire. The fire burned 2290 acres in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

6. Aug 13, 2000Wildfire$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wildfire north of Redding caused the destruction of three residences, one mobile home, one travel trailer, four vehicles, and two out-buildings. High temperatures and dry fuels caused the fire to spread rapidly with flame lengths of 50 feet and numerous spot fires. At containment, 350 acres had been burned.

7. Feb 20, 2017Flood$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several large trees blocking Big Bend Road.

8. Apr 5, 2019Flash Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rainfall around 9 pm Friday caused flooding near Rock Creek and Paige Boulder Creek near the community of Old Shasta. Rock Creek jumped its banks and occupied portions of the flood plain along Rock Creek Road and over topped several crossings.

9. Dec 11, 2014Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Boulder Creek over topped banks and flooded Premier RV Resort.

10. Jun 9, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$40,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Tree blown down on mobile home and an adjacent car in the city of Redding.

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

115°F2 times, most recently Aug 8, 1981

All-time low

14°F2 times, most recently Dec 22, 1990

Warmest night

85°FAug 8, 1978

Coldest day

26°FDec 22, 1990

Wettest day

11.64 inDec 22, 1964

Snowiest day

42.0 inJan 8, 1952

Hottest year

2020mean 66.4°F

Coldest year

1948mean 60.1°F

Wettest year

1983130.48 in

Driest year

201316.71 in

Snowiest season

64.0 in1951-52

Station Shasta Dam (USC00048135), 1,075 ft elevation, 3.2 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1943 to October 27, 2026; 94.8% 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 Shasta 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 USC00048135.
• 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.