Stanislaus County

Every recorded tornado

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

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Nov 15, 2015Tornado$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A severe thunderstorm produced a tornado with multiple touch downs that moved through the north section of Denair, CA touching down around 1:54 pm PST and ending around 2:15 pm PST on Sunday, November 15, 2015. There were no injuries. About 21 homes were impacted, 2 of them with major damage, but most with minor roof damage. Many fences were knocked down. Numerous trees and tree branches were brought down, including several large trees and numerous sections of trees in walnut groves. Power lines were knocked down causing local power outages. The multiple touch down path was about 3 miles long. The damage path was about 175-200 yards at the widest point.

2. Apr 2, 2006Heavy Rain$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Prolonged heavy precipitation with high snow levels resulted in excessive runoff into area river basins. Hardest hit was the San Joaquin River system and the Delta region. Many area reservoirs had minimal flood storage space as per seasonal norms and the large inflows had to be balanced very carefully with downstream releases to protect the fragile San Joaquin levee system. While the bulk of the flooding affected agricultural and rural properties, some local areas adjacent to waterways experienced flooding of homes and many roads were impassable. However, through the efforts of advance flood-fight measures, careful monitoring of levees, and critical water management coordination…

3. Apr 14, 2006Flood$250,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain from afternoon thunderstorms caused flooding in the Riverbend area of Modesto. Nearby areas had been flooded earlier in the week due to high river levels. Several houses and some local roads were flooded.

4. Mar 21, 2017Lightning$200,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Lightning hit a tree in Oakdale, CA, causing a fire in nearby electrical transformer and resulting in a power outage. Three homes and a few vehicles were reported damaged.

5. Dec 24, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$150,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Straight line winds brought down trees at Coffee Rd. and Athens Rd. A large tree with shallow roots fell on power lines and brought down 12 power poles.

6. Jan 1, 2006Flood$100,000
   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…

7. Jan 27, 2021Heavy Rain$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The media reported that street flooding and rockslides occurred due to heavy rain. They also noted that Stanislaus Sheriff Department said a few vehicles were damaged as well. Damage costs are estimated. Location is not approximate as it was provided as a general statement.

8. Nov 23, 1996Heavy Rain$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain and large amounts of small hail cause a roof support to give way, taking a portion of the roof.

9. Mar 22, 2005Heavy Rain$25,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Heavy rain resulted in street flooding and minor property damage.

10. Dec 24, 2015Tornado$20,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    EFO tornado damage was confirmed in Ceres from Davis Rd. to Vinewood Dr. by a NWS damage survey team. A carport collapsed causing damage to a house. Several houses, trees and fences were damaged. The tornado was only on the ground for a brief time.

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

113°F2 times, most recently Jul 24, 2006

All-time low

18°F2 times, most recently Jan 11, 1949

Warmest night

84°FJul 22, 2006

Coldest day

31°FDec 11, 1932

Wettest day

2.72 inMar 4, 1978

Snowiest day

1.5 inJan 21, 1962

Hottest year

2016mean 65.6°F

Coldest year

1948mean 57.9°F

Wettest year

198327.39 in

Driest year

19123.81 in

Snowiest season

1.5 in1961-62

Station Modesto Airport (USW00023258), 87 ft elevation, 0.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1927 to October 26, 2026; 99.7% 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 USW00023258.
• 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.
• 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.