Sedro-Woolley
Population 13,308 (2025)
3 tornadoes have tracked within 25 miles of Sedro-Woolley since 1950, 0 of them rated EF3 or F3 or stronger; the most recent was on May 18, 2005.
Hazard fingerprint Each spoke is this county’s percentile among U.S. counties where that hazard occurs. How it is computed
- Tornado damage paths within 25 miles since 19503
- Major flood years since 1978, Skagit County7
At a glance
Tornado paths within 25 miles, tropical cyclone tracks within 100 miles and wildfire perimeters within 25 miles of the city centre. Storm events, flood insurance claims and disaster declarations are for Skagit County. Earthquakes within 50 miles, volcanoes within 100 miles and smoke days are measured from the city centre; river and tide gauges, tsunami and landslide records and the drought index are for Skagit County.
Strongest tornado
F2
May 13, 1986, 0.3 mile path
Federal disaster declarations
29
Most recent: Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, 2026
DetailsSnowiest season
41.0in
Winter of 1949-50
Tornadoes
About one every 25 years since 1950, none rated F3/EF3 or stronger.
Strongest
May 13, 1986
F2, 0.3 mile path
10 yards wide.
Most recent
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
F1, 0.2 mile path
21 years ago.
Every recorded tornado
| May 18, 2005 | F1 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 |
| Jun 5, 2004 | F0 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| May 13, 1986 | F2 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 |
- Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond this area.
- 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.
Hurricanes and tropical storms
No tropical storm or hurricane has tracked within 100 miles since records began in 1851.
Wildfire and smoke
No large wildfire has been mapped within 25 miles since satellite mapping began in 1984.
Smoke overhead
Smokiest year
2022: 33 days
Heavy smoke on 13 days in 2022, the most of any year.
Last 10 years
16.2 days a year
Medium or heavy smoke, 2016 to 2025.
2025
12 days
Medium or heavy smoke. 30 so far in 2026.
- 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.
Floods and flood insurance
1,294 federal flood insurance claims since 1978, with $22.7 million paid.
Flood insurance figures are for Skagit County, the county that contains Sedro-Woolley.
Most claims in one year
1990: 272 claims
$2.3 million paid.
2nd most
1995: 217 claims
$2.8 million paid.
3rd most
2003: 178 claims
$4.0 million paid.
Claims by ZIP code
| 98284 | 398 | $8.3 million |
| 98273 | 247 | $2.6 million |
| 98255 | 223 | $4.9 million |
| 98233 | 126 | $3.4 million |
| 98237 | 122 | $1.5 million |
| 98232 | 57 | $527,000 |
| 98267 | 29 | $397,000 |
| 18 | $166,000 | |
| 98257 | 12 | $276,000 |
| 98235 | 12 | $105,000 |
| 98283 | 8 | $77,000 |
| 98238 | 7 | $14,000 |
| 98221 | 7 | $137,000 |
| 98225 | 6 | $170,000 |
| 98274 | 5 | $37,000 |
Flood events since 1996
- Flash Flood5
- Flood5
- Heavy Rain3
- Coastal Flood2
1 death recorded in flood events since 1996.
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 Skagit County, the county that contains Sedro-Woolley.
Most severe crest
January 1, 1815
Skagit River near Concrete, 69.30 ft
41.30 feet above the 28.0 ft flood stage; major flooding by today’s categories.
Most recent moderate or major crest
December 18, 2025
Skagit River near Mt Vernon, 30.93 ft
Moderate flooding.
River gauges
| Skagit River near Concrete | 28.0 | 69.30 ft | 33 |
| Skagit River near Mt Vernon | 28.0 | 37.73 ft | 16 |
- 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.
Drought
In severe drought or worse for 76 of 1,581 months since 1895 (5%); the longest spell lasted 6 months.
The drought index is for Skagit County, the county that contains Sedro-Woolley.
76
Months in severe drought or worse since 1895
8
Months in extreme drought
5%
Share of all months, severe or worse
Lowest reading
April 1941
−4.81, extreme drought
Longest severe spell
6 months
December 1928 to May 1929.
Latest month
September 2026
−2.02, moderate drought
Last severe month: March 2024.
- 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.
Earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides
24 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles since 1900; the largest was magnitude 6.0 in 1909.
155
Magnitude 3+ within 50 miles since 1973
24
Magnitude 4+ within 50 miles since 1900
6
Magnitude 5+ within 50 miles since 1900
Largest within 50 miles
January 11, 1909
San Juan Islands, Washington; 29.0 miles away.
Most recent, magnitude 3 or more
July 1, 2026
Magnitude 3.8
2 km E of Oak Harbor, Washington; 23.1 miles away.
Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles
| Mar 3, 2025 | 4.5 | 27.1 |
| Oct 8, 2023 | 4.3 | 39.8 |
| Jul 12, 2019 | 4.6 | 45.2 |
| Dec 29, 2015 | 4.8 | 49.1 |
| Nov 23, 2005 | 4.0 | 24.0 |
| Sep 20, 2002 | 4.1 | 41.0 |
| Apr 13, 1990 | 4.0 | 21.6 |
| Apr 13, 1990 | 5.0 | 23.3 |
| Apr 2, 1990 | 4.0 | 22.6 |
| Apr 2, 1990 | 4.3 | 22.2 |
| Mar 5, 1989 | 4.2 | 5.6 |
| Feb 14, 1989 | 4.0 | 5.8 |
| Sep 2, 1976 | 4.7 | 33.0 |
| May 16, 1974 | 4.0 | 44.1 |
| Nov 8, 1972 | 4.1 | 48.2 |
| Nov 22, 1971 | 4.1 | 44.0 |
| Jul 14, 1964 | 4.6 | 37.7 |
| Jan 25, 1957 | 5.0 | 15.4 |
| May 15, 1954 | 5.0 | 36.9 |
| Nov 28, 1943 | 4.8 | 31.6 |
| Jan 23, 1920 | 5.5 | 40.3 |
| Aug 18, 1915 | 5.6 | 38.1 |
| Sep 28, 1911 | 4.1 | 29.2 |
| Jan 11, 1909 | 6.0 | 29.0 |
- 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.
- 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
| Mount Baker | 26.5 | Very high |
| Glacier Peak | 58.4 | Very high |
- 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 Skagit County.
5,527
Landslides mapped, probable or better
189
With a recorded date
4
Source inventories
Mapped by WA WGS (5,439), USGS Conterminous (54), West Coast Slow Moving (Yuankun and others, 2021) (19), NASA (15).
Deadly landslides
| Aug 10, 2015 | Rock fall | 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.
Severe weather and other events
156 events in the National Weather Service record for Skagit County, 156 of them since 1996.
0
Hail reports, 1 inch or larger
0
Hail, 2 inches or larger
0
Damaging gusts, 58 mph+
99
Winter weather events since 1996
7
Heat events since 1996
0
Cold events since 1996
More event types since 1996
| Lightning | 1 | 0 |
| Debris flows | 1 | 0 |
| Avalanches | 1 | 1 |
Costliest events since 1996
- Nov 12, 2021Flood$12.0 million
National Weather Service narrative
Heavy rain and some snow melt caused flooding throughout much of Skagit County, especially on the Skagit and Samish Rivers. Flooding on the Skagit started on the 12th, then temporarily dropped below flood stage, before rising to major flood on the night of the 14th. 2 fatalities occurred during this time with many road, highways, and bridges closed due to water over roadway, washouts, sloughing, and debris. Town inundated including Rockport, Hamilton, Lyman, Sedro Woolley, and Mount Vernon. There was urban and small stream flooding as well on the 15th.The heavy rain also triggered a number of landslides throughout the area. Damages are reported and estimated; not all damages have…
- Nov 28, 2021Flood$3.0 million
National Weather Service narrative
Flooding of minor category occurred on the Skagit and Samish Rivers, as well as other streams and urban areas.
- 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.
- Jan 8, 2009Flood$2.0 million
National Weather Service narrative
One home in Allen was partially flooded from Thomas Creek. A business west of Sedro Woolley was flooded. About 30 roads in Skagit county were closed.
- Nov 15, 2006High Wind, Western Skagit County$2.0 million
National Weather Service narrative
Trees fell on homes, power lines and over roads. A roof was torn of a large barn near Hamilton.
- Nov 4, 2006Flood$1.6 million
National Weather Service narrative
Record flooding occurred on the Cowlitz, Nooksack, Puyallup, Nisqually, |Skykomish, Stillaguamish, Carbon, Snoqualmie, and Bogachiel. Major flooding occurred on the Tolt, Snohomish, Skokomish, Skagit, and White rivers. Other rivers flooding were the Satsop, Cedar, Wynoochee, Elwha, Deschutes, Dungeness, Skookumchuck, and Chehalis.
- Dec 14, 2006High Wind, Western Skagit County$1.0 million
National Weather Service narrative
Deception Pass bridge was closed for several hours. Two locations near Skagit Bay had wind gusts in the 80s. The Guemes Ferry was knocked loose from its moorings. In Anacortes a man was injured when a tree fell on his vehicle.
- Nov 26, 2006Heavy Snow, Western Skagit County$1.0 million
National Weather Service narrative
Six to 14 inches of snow fell. The heavy snow downed trees and power lines. About 30 county roads were closed.
- Oct 18, 2017High Wind, Western Skagit County$625,000
National Weather Service narrative
Padilla Bay had sustained wind 30 mph or greater from 115 PM to 4 PM. Highest sustained wind was 32 mph with a peak gust of 44 mph. This verifies the high wind warning for this first event of the season, when lower criteria for high wind are in effect.
- Dec 12, 2010Flood$300,000
National Weather Service narrative
There was some damage along the Skagit river.
- 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.
Weather records
From Sedro-woolley, 1.1 miles from the city centre, with records from 1896.
- All-time high
- 99°FJun 30, 1915
- All-time low
- −2°FJan 26, 1957
- Warmest night
- 74°FAug 16, 2023
- Coldest day
- 11°FJan 7, 1909
- Wettest day
- 4.01 inNov 18, 1911
- Snowiest day
- 13.0 inFeb 24, 2011
- Hottest year
- 1958mean 53.2°F
- Coldest year
- 1955mean 47.8°F
- Wettest year
- 199069.20 in
- Driest year
- 198728.22 in
- Snowiest season
- 41.0 in1949-50
Median first snow
December 22
Earliest: October 29, 1991
Median last snow
February 7
Latest: April 12, 1968
18 of 77 winters had no measurable snow.
Station Sedro-woolley (USC00457507), 52 ft elevation, 1.1 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1896 to September 30, 2026; 90.9% 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.
Federal disaster declarations
29 since 1953. The most recent: Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, April 7, 2026.
Declarations for Skagit County.
| Apr 7, 2026 | Flood | DR-4906-WA |
| Dec 12, 2025 | Flood | EM-3629-WA |
| Apr 28, 2024 | Severe Storm | DR-4775-WA |
| Jan 12, 2023 | Severe Storm | DR-4682-WA |
| Mar 29, 2022 | Flood | DR-4650-WA |
| Jan 5, 2022 | Flood | DR-4635-WA |
| Apr 8, 2021 | Severe Storm | DR-4593-WA |
| Apr 23, 2020 | Flood | DR-4539-WA |
| Mar 22, 2020 | Biological | DR-4481-WA |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | EM-3427-WA |
| Aug 24, 2015 | Fire | FM-5109-WA |
| Mar 25, 2011 | Severe Storm | DR-1963-WA |
| Mar 2, 2009 | Severe Storm | DR-1825-WA |
| Jan 30, 2009 | Flood | DR-1817-WA |
| Dec 8, 2007 | Severe Storm | DR-1734-WA |
| Feb 14, 2007 | Severe Storm | DR-1682-WA |
| Dec 12, 2006 | Severe Storm | DR-1671-WA |
| Sep 7, 2005 | Coastal Storm | EM-3227-WA |
| Nov 7, 2003 | Severe Storm | DR-1499-WA |
| Mar 1, 2001 | Earthquake | DR-1361-WA |
| Jan 17, 1997 | Severe Storm | DR-1159-WA |
| Feb 9, 1996 | Flood | DR-1100-WA |
| Jan 3, 1996 | Severe Storm | DR-1079-WA |
| Mar 8, 1991 | Flood | DR-896-WA |
| Nov 26, 1990 | Flood | DR-883-WA |
| May 21, 1980 | Volcanic Eruption | DR-623-WA |
| Dec 31, 1979 | Flood | DR-612-WA |
| Dec 13, 1975 | Flood | DR-492-WA |
| Feb 9, 1971 | Flood | DR-300-WA |
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.
Sources and vintage
Every number on this page comes from these public records.
- 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 USC00457507.
- 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.