Lynden

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.

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 Whatcom County, the county that contains Lynden.

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 Whatcom County, the county that contains Lynden.

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 Whatcom 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 Whatcom County, the county that contains Lynden.

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 Whatcom 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 Whatcom County.

Mapped by WA WGS (6,163), NASA (17), USGS Conterminous (15), West Coast Slow Moving (Yuankun and others, 2021) (11), USGS Seismogenic Mass Movements (5).

Deadly landslides

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. Nov 14, 2021Flood$34.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain and some snow melt caused flooding that exceeded major severity on the South Fork Nooksack River and mainstem Nooksack River at North Cedarville and Ferndale. There was urban and small stream flooding as well, hitting Bellingham especially hard. The heavy rain also triggered a dozen landslides throughout the area. Significant flooding on the Nooksack River also overflowed at the City of Everson to the degree that flood waters flowed north along an old Nooksack floodway and Johnson Creek where it flooded the cities of Everson and Nooksack, WA, then combined with flooding from the Sumas River and flooded the City of Sumas, WA where over 85% of homes sustained water…

2. Nov 28, 2021Flood$8.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain of 5 to 10 inches caused flooding on many rivers, including the Bogachiel, Nooksack, Samish, Skagit, Skokomish, Stillaguamish Rivers. There was urban and small stream flooding as well. The heavy rain also triggered landslides throughout the area. Significant flooding on the Nooksack River, for the second time this month, overflowed at the City of Everson to the degree that flood waters flowed north along an old Nooksack floodway and Johnson Creek where it flooded the cities of Everson and Nooksack, WA, then combined with flooding from the Sumas River and flooded the City of Sumas, WA. |Damages are reported and estimated; not all damages have been identified. Crop…

3. Nov 23, 1998High Wind, Western Whatcom$6.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Sustained winds up to 50 mph affected most of Western Washington. Winds in the Bellingham area gusted to 76 mph. Around a quarter of a million homes and businesses were without power during the storm. All of Whidbey Island's 26,000 electric customers were without power during the morning of the 24th. There were numerous trees down, which caused damage to houses, cars and other structures. Parts of Sea-Tac airport lost power and the Hood Canal Bridge was closed for several hours.

4. Jan 7, 2009Flood$5.6 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Some homes and businesses in Ferndale, Marietta and Lynden were flooded, most of them from the Nooksack River. Most schools in the area were closed or limited hours for 3 days. Sections of several major roads were closed. In the end more than two dozen roads had sections that had been washed away.

5. Jul 30, 2017Wildfire, Cascades Of Whatcom And Skagit Counties$2.3 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wildfire started 10 miles NE of Darrington on the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Reservation on July 30th. No structures were lost thanks to fire suppression efforts. The fire burned 216 acres and was permitted to burn itself out by early September after moving into more isolated areas.

6. Nov 26, 2006Heavy Snow, Western Whatcom County$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Six to 18 inches of snow fell over the area. The airport was closed for two days. Road traffic was delayed or canceled. Schools were closed and there were several hundred power outages. Blowing snow made drifts up to 4 feet high.

7. Nov 15, 2006High Wind, Western Whatcom County$900,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts reached an estimated 80 mph on Bellingham Bay. In the Bellingham area, several people were injured, most from falling debris. Houses, buildings, power lines and roads were damaged or block by fallen trees. A school closed early when a large tree branch pierced the roof. About 15,000 customers lost power.

8. Oct 18, 2017High Wind, Western Whatcom County$800,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   KBLI had sustained wind 30 mph or greater from 1015 AM to 215 PM. Highest sustained wind was 33 mph with a peak gust of 53 mph. This verifies the high wind warning for this first event of the season, when lower criteria for high wind are in effect.

9. Feb 8, 2017Ice Storm, Western Whatcom County$700,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A multitude of observational sources (NWS spotters, CoCoRaHS, etc) show that 1 to 3 inches of snow fell across Western Whatcom County followed immediately by heavy freezing rain, resulting an ice sheet up to a half inch thick on top of new and older snow. The result was treacherous road conditions, power outages, and closures of businesses and schools.

10. Dec 15, 2000Storm Surge/Tide$650,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    About 50 homes in the Sandy Point area suffered damage from seas 10-12 feet in height. 10 homes suffered major damage, in part due to driftwood that smashed into the homes along with the surf. One woman was injured from debris in the surf. Wind with this event gusted to 52 mph.

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

100°FAug 12, 2021

All-time low

−2°F3 times, most recently Feb 1, 1950

Warmest night

66°F2 times, most recently Jun 28, 2021

Coldest day

9°F2 times, most recently Dec 29, 1968

Wettest day

3.30 inJan 12, 1976

Snowiest day

10.0 inDec 31, 1968

Hottest year

2015mean 53.1°F

Coldest year

1955mean 46.7°F

Wettest year

197147.18 in

Driest year

195222.37 in

Station Bellingham International Airport (USW00024217), 150 ft elevation, 11.1 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1949 to October 27, 2026; 93.6% 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 Whatcom 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 USW00024217.
• 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.