Shoreline

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 King County, the county that contains Shoreline.

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 King County, the county that contains Shoreline.

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 King 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 King County, the county that contains Shoreline.

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 King 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 King County.

Mapped by WA WGS (7,943), WA SDIC (2,724), USGS WA Puget Sound (139), NASA (125), West Coast Slow Moving (Yuankun and others, 2021) (1).

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. Feb 9, 2017Heavy Rain$33.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain and storm runoff damaged the West Point sewage treatment plant in Seattle. King county dumped an estimated 235 million gallons of untreated wastewater - including 30 million gallons of raw sewage - into Puget Sound because of damage to the plant. The plant could not perform full wastewater treatment as required by the state permit until May 9th, as reported by the Seattle Times.

2. Dec 29, 1996Heavy Rain$31.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Overall, the total damage from the ice/snow/rain storm that lasted from December 26th to the 31st, caused about $315 million in both insured and uninsured damage (in all of WA). Although not all directly caused by the weather (some indirect) the storms claimed 16 lives and sparked a state of emergency in 30 counties. Seattle normally averages 1.44" of precipitation between Dec. 26 and Jan 2nd. This winter it received 8.35" during those eight days. The total number of customers without power at one time was nearly 300,000 and some people went a week without power. The damage affected people for weeks. In Bremerton the bridge that connects the two halves of the city was closed for…

3. Jan 7, 2009Flood$14.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The cities of Snoqualmie, Carnation, Duvall and Fall City flooded, some residents had to be rescued, many homes were flooded. The Issaquah creek flooded some residences and businesses. It also eroded part of the riverbank, which caused a guest house to fall into the creek. About 40 King County roads were closed. In Pacific, about 1000 people evacuated their homes due to flooding from releases from the Mud Mountain dam, 100 of those homes were damaged, some with 3 feet of water in them.

4. Dec 3, 2007Heavy Rain$12.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Four apartment buildings were evacuated in North Seattle, where some basement apartments had 3 feet of water in them. About 30 people were evacuated from apartments in Woodinville. Many roads were closed, including parts of SR 522, water over I-405 led to heavy traffic all day. About 20 roads were damaged throughout the county. Nearly 5 inches of rain fell at SeaTac airport. Nathan Hale High School in north Seattle was closed for a week due to water damage from Thorton Creek for the first time ever. A few homes and businesses had water damage.

5. Nov 4, 2006Flood$11.1 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.

6. Mar 1, 1999Heavy Rain$5.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The heavy rain, which in turn caused flooding and mudslides, over the winter season has caused 18.5 million damage to Washington State roads. The two hardest hit counties were Mason with 10.2 and King with 5.5 million in damage.

7. Dec 12, 2010Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   There was major flooding along the Snoqualmie River. Westside Hwy on Vashon island was closed due to a portion of the road sinking. Some basements flooded as China Creek in Newcastle, overflowed. Several roads around North Bend and Carnation were closed due to flooding.

8. Jan 7, 2022Heavy Rain$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain on top of saturated soils triggered a landslide that knocked a house off it's foundation, collapsing one level - destroying it and trapping the inhabitants. One man was trapped under debris and injured and had to be extricated by Seattle Fire Department. A woman was also pinned under debris but was able to escape. One dog was killed and another was found a week later in the debris and extricated. At the time, 1 to 2 inches of rain had fallen in the area in the previous 48 hours with the Seattle Antecedent Rainfall Index already high, above the threshold for heavy rain-induced landslides.

9. Dec 14, 2006Heavy Rain$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Up to 2 inches of rain fell during the day, causing a sinkhole to develop under a road in Woodinville and flooding several businesses in Kirkland. Freeway ramps were closed off of I-405 in Kirkland and there was ankle high water at intersections. A sinkhole also developed near a West Seattle home, flooding the basement. In Rainier Valley several businesses were flooded. Seattle Goodwill's downtown building suffered water damage.

10. Jan 5, 2006Heavy Rain$800,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    The Governor declared a state of emergency after rain, at times heavy, over a period of about 10 days, caused over 7 million in damage, mainly to transportation infrastructure throughout western Washington. Mudslides closed parts of I-5 near the Pierce-Thurston county line, part of Highway 20 about a half mile east of Concrete, Highway 107 near Raymond, and Highway 166 near Port Orchard - where 3 cars crashed in the mud. In Bremerton, they totaled 16.2 inches of rainfall in 3 weeks, an amount which normally falls in 2 months. Mudslides halted Amtrak passenger train service between Everett and Olympia. In King County, there were 19 road closures from water over the roadway. Many…

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°F3 times, most recently Jun 28, 2021

All-time low

3°FJan 25, 1950

Warmest night

73°FJul 29, 2009

Coldest day

16°FJan 13, 1950

Wettest day

3.21 inJun 13, 1948

Hottest year

2015mean 53.8°F

Coldest year

1948mean 48.0°F

Wettest year

194845.38 in

Driest year

202514.42 in

Station Everett Snohomish County Airport (USW00024222), 548 ft elevation, 11.9 miles from the city centre. Daily records from 1948 to October 27, 2026; 93.2% 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 King 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 USW00024222.
• 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.