Lake County

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 CA GS (1,306), NASA (6), 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.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Feb 9, 2017Flood$7.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding of Clear Lake brought the closure of multiple roads. Lakeshore Boulevard was closed due to flooding between Lange Street and Giselman Street, Other strees closed included Esplanade Street, K Street, Konoctie Avenue, and Lupoyoma Avenue. Clear Lake���s level stayed in flood stage for a month and led to mandatory evacuations in parts of the city of Lakeport. Lake County Public Works Director said early assessments suggested damage to county-maintained roads ranged between $5 million and $7 million.

2. Jan 1, 2006Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A series of warm winter storms brought heavy rain, mudslides, flooding, and high winds to Northern California. - Levee overtopping, breaching, and river flooding occurred along the Feather and Sacramento mainstem rivers as well as along numerous smaller rivers, creeks, and streams. Several urban areas had significant street flooding. The Sacramento weir was opened for the first time since 1997 with twenty gates opened. - Transportation throughout the area was difficult during the course of the storms as airports were closed due to the high winds and major road closures resulted from flooding and mudslides. Interstate 80...the main artery between Sacramento and the San Francisco…

3. Dec 11, 2014Flood$400,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooding was reported in Clearlake, bringing significant and widespread damage. Neighborhoods were evacuated. Roads were damaged. Extensive road repair and debris removal was required.

4. Dec 11, 2014Debris Flow$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A slide at Lakeside Heights over topped the K-railing that was placed at the base of the slope and extended out into Hill Road, blocking an access to Sutter Lakeside Hospital.

5. Feb 4, 2025Flood$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flooded road with 2 stalled vehicles 1 mile northwest of Finley, CA.|Lat. 39.01N, Long. -122.89W.

6. Feb 13, 2019Flood$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The media reported that they received information from the California Highway Patrol that a vehicle was swept into Scotts Creek as they were trying to cross a flooded roadway. 3 people were rescued from the car.

7. Jan 10, 2017Flood$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A home adjacent to Boggs Forest in Cobb, Ca. was damaged by water runoff.

8. Oct 3, 2018Flash Flood$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Emergency Manager relayed a report of a creek beginning to flood a barn near the Mendocino-Lake County border. The water was black from ash in the Mendocino Complex and higher than the resident had ever seen before.

9. Feb 4, 2025Heavy Rain$7,500
   National Weather Service narrative

   Landslide took out a telephone poll off of Highway 20. Lat. 39.17N, Long. -122.97W.

10. Mar 1, 2024High Wind, Southern Lake County$7,500
    National Weather Service narrative

    Utility company reports outage for 98 customers due to Non-Thunderstorm Wind Damage 4 miles west northwest of Loch Lomond, CA. LONG. 38.89N, LONG. -122.78W.

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

110°FJul 15, 1972

All-time low

14°FDec 9, 1972

Warmest night

79°FJul 14, 1972

Coldest day

30°FDec 9, 1972

Wettest day

7.62 inOct 24, 2021

Snowiest day

10.2 inMar 2, 1976

Hottest year

2014mean 59.8°F

Coldest year

1971mean 54.5°F

Wettest year

198388.92 in

Driest year

20138.76 in

Station Angwin Pacific Union College (USC00040212), 1,715 ft elevation, 32.0 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1952 to September 30, 2026; 97.4% 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 USC00040212.
• 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.