Glenn County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Glenn County: 0.
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.

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

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.

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 county boundary (or inside the county).
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

Mapped by West Coast Slow Moving (Yuankun and others, 2021) (5).

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.

Costliest events since 1996

1. Jan 1, 2023Flood$5.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Glenn County completed a preliminary estimate of damage from flooding. There was substantial flooding, resulting in the closure of more than 25 roads. There was over $5 million in damage to public infrastructure. There was significant bank erosion on a number of major creeks, stream, and the Sacramento River.

2. Mar 4, 2023Flood$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Glenn County completed a preliminary estimate of damage from heavy rainfall and flooding. There was substantial flooding, resulting in approximately $600,000 in damage to public infrastructure, including roads, bridges and culverts.

3. Feb 4, 2024Flood$395,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Glenn County OES reported the closure of Willows-Glenn County Airport taxiway and runway due to flooding and debris, with damage to the shoulder. Damage, culvert failure, and temporary closure of multiple county roads. There were 8 water rescues within the county as well with this event. The Glenn County Landfill infrastructure was also damaged from flooding and erosion.

4. May 25, 2011Tornado$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The first and northernmost tornado in the outbreak developed east of the town of Artois in Glenn County at approximately 5:08 pm and moved east-northeast, passing south of the town of Chico in Butte County. It caused significant damage to an almond grove in Glenn County and less significant damage to farm implements, roofing materials, and another almond grove across its path. The rating of an EF1 was based upon the uprooting of hundreds of almond trees with a few instances of broken large branches and trunks. The estimated highest wind speed (3 second gust) based upon damage with this tornado is 95 mph. There were no injuries nor fatalities.

5. May 25, 2011Tornado$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The second tornado of the outbreak developed northeast of downtown Willows in Glenn County at approximately 5:12 pm. It moved east-northeast and passed just south of the town of Durham in Butte County. It caused significant damage to almond groves in Butte County, as well as destroyed one out building, damaged an open barn, and caused roofing damage to two other structures. The rating of an EF1 was based upon the uprooting of thousands of almond trees with many instances of broken large branches and trunks and the physical lifting and carrying of several large trees by five to ten feet. The estimated highest wind speed (3 second gust) based upon damage with this tornado is 105…

6. Jan 24, 2009Tornado$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A California Highway Patrol officer observed a funnel cloud form in a wall cloud and drop down on a farm around 3:00 pm PST. The tornado ripped most of the tin roof panels off of a 70 year old barn and also from a chicken coop. Roof pieces were found in a tree and in adjacent fields up to one half of a mile away. One tin roof piece shorted out power lines, causing a loss of power to the neighborhood. A pickup truck suffered damage to the driver side mirror from flying debris. Netting from pheasant pens was ripped up. A large steel hopper was knocked over. The farmhouse was undamaged and the farm animals were apparently unharmed. ||The tornado was non-supercellular and formed when…

7. Mar 8, 2010Tornado$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A rancher observed a tornado passing along a road, over a pond and then through a barn. A storm survey was done at the site, with the tornado rated as an EF0. The main damage was the roof of the barn was peeled back. A small trailer also suffered minor 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

120°F3 times, most recently Aug 7, 1908

All-time low

15°FDec 23, 1990

Warmest night

86°F2 times, most recently Jun 22, 2017

Coldest day

30°F2 times, most recently Dec 21, 1990

Wettest day

4.36 inFeb 3, 1998

Snowiest day

9.0 inJan 10, 1937

Hottest year

2020mean 65.8°F

Coldest year

1965mean 59.6°F

Wettest year

198348.35 in

Driest year

20205.72 in

Station Orland (USC00046506), 254 ft elevation, 5.6 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1903 to August 31, 2026; 95.3% 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.

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.

Neighbouring counties

• 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 USC00046506.
• 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.