Tehama County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Tehama 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) (8).

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. Sep 29, 2000Wildfire$547 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wildfire ignited five miles west of Red Bluff and strong winds and steep terrain made containment efforts difficult. Five out-buildings and one radio vault were destroyed and 8284 acres were burned before the fire was finally contained in early October.

2. Jan 1, 2023Flood$14.2 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Tehama County completed a preliminary estimate of damage from flooding. There was substantial flooding, with a rough estimate of $14 million in damages, mainly from 3 bridges, 1 completely destroyed by under cutting, two others under cut and sink holes, but still standing. Kirkwood Bridge $6,110,000.00 , Rawson Bridge $4,000,000.00. Remainder in trees, bridge clearing, road damage, labor $4,000,000.00||The city of Red Bluff estimated $60,000.00 bridge, trees, sandbags, labor (still climbing as they find more). The city of Corning estimated $100,000.00 road damage, creek and bridge clearing and labor. The city of Tehama estimated $27,000.00 road damage to East Gyle, tree clean up…

3. Dec 3, 2014Flash Flood$6.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   There was flooding and impacts along Highway 99 from numerous creeks overtopping their banks in addition to earthen berm or earthen levee failures. There were issues on the following creeks: | Salt Creek (Overtopped at Highway 99 and Highway 36 location)| Antelope Creek (Private earthen berm failure at Rancho Ave))| Craig Creek (Overtopped near Craig Road and Rancho Ave)| Dye Creek (Over topped and earthen berm failure between Shasta blvd and 62nd Ave)|Highway 99 was closed from highway 36 to Aramayo Way for many hours (Wednesday evening through early Thursday morning) until the water receded and things could be cleaned up. There were 213 homes impacted from the flooding, with…

4. Oct 1, 2000Wildfire$547,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A wildfire that had ignited in late September west of Red Bluff continued to burn in early October. By the time the fire was contained, it had destroyed five out-buildings and one radio vault and had burned 8284 acres.

5. Dec 11, 2014Flood$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Multiple homes suffered flooding as Deer Creek flooded. Residents were forced to evacuate.

6. Dec 11, 2014Flood$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Two apartment buildings suffered flooding as a creek behind the buildings over topped. Residents were forced to evacuate.

7. Feb 17, 2017Flood$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Storms brought additional rain and widespread flooding and debris flows, as well as mountain snow.

8. Jan 23, 2016Hail$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Large amounts of hail fell and accumulated, 4 to 5 inches deep on I5 and adjacent local roads. The hail was up to an inch in diameter. The hail brought very slippery conditions, causing 3 vehicles to slide into the ditch. These vehicles needed to be towed. The hail also caused long traffic delays. Snow plows were required to plow the hail off of I5.

9. Feb 19, 2013Tornado$20,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   The public reported a landspout tornado at approximately 1:30pm near Gerber, CA. This tornado touched down in a farmland south of Worthington Ave. and tracked from northeast to southwest, hitting the east side of a large barn and destroying the roofing structure of the eastern side. The tornado scattered the metal roof shingles and wood pieces up to 200 ft away to both the northeast and southwest. Based on damage, the NWS tornado survey rated it as an EF0 with an estimation of 74 mph. Images and video confirmed that this tornado was a landspout.

10. Jan 16, 2019Flood$15,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Heavy rains led to intense flooding in Red Bluff leading to 30 homes being evacuated on Aloha Street. Several homes did flood and evacuation orders were lifted at 1100 am.

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

121°FAug 7, 1981

All-time low

13°FDec 23, 1990

Warmest night

87°FJun 22, 2017

Coldest day

29°FDec 21, 1990

Wettest day

3.87 inFeb 3, 1909

Snowiest day

9.0 in2 times, most recently Dec 5, 1972

Hottest year

2014mean 66.0°F

Coldest year

1948mean 60.4°F

Wettest year

198348.98 in

Driest year

20135.41 in

Snowiest season

15.5 in1972-73

Station Red Bluff Municipal Airport (USW00024216), 354 ft elevation, 3.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1934 to October 26, 2026; 99.6% 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 USW00024216.
• 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.