Humboldt County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Humboldt 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 NV NBMG (31).

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 7, 2017Flood$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Residents of Paradise Valley were inundated on at least two separate occasions as water poured off the Santa Rosa Mountains through the various creeks surrounding the town. Humboldt county reported over 68 rural roads that were damaged by the flooding. Damages are estimated.

2. Jun 10, 2013Dust Storm, Humboldt$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms winds produced a dust storm that reduced visibility to near zero at times and caused a 27 vehicle pileup on Interstate 80 just west of Winnemucca near mile marker 175. One driver was killed and 37 others were injured, 4 seriously. It took crews 20 hours to clear the debris and reopen Interstate 80. Damages are estimated.

3. Mar 30, 2017High Wind, Humboldt$60,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Strong winds gusting to 66 mph snapped 8 power poles along State Route 140 and damaged 3 power poles in the Paradise Hills area. In Winnemucca a carport was destroyed by the strong winds. Damages are estimated.

4. Aug 13, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$50,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds downed 16 power poles and the downed wires started a fire. The wind gust speed is estimated based on the damage.

5. May 31, 2009Flash Flood$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Flashing flooding caused mud to flow across two downtown streets as well as causing a sinkhole to develop. Also, a basement of a house at the corner of East Second and See streets was flooded and damaged. Flood waters and mud made its way through the Hi-Desert RV Park and into a golf cart shed at the golf course.

6. Feb 25, 2012High Wind, Humboldt$30,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A large barn was blown down in Diamond Valley.

7. Mar 31, 2012High Wind, Humboldt$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Wind gusts to 83 mph were observed by the Morey Creek RAWS, 77 mph at the Double H RAWS, and 72 mph at the Texas Springs RAWS. At Paradise Hills, not far from Morey Creek, a Ham Radio Operator lost an estimated three to four thousand dollars in damage to towers, antennas, feed lines, and house roofing and ventilation.||These strong winds also blew a couple of vehicles off area roadways. A Semi truck traveling westbound on Interstate 80 10 miles west of Golconda Summit was blown over by strong winds. A pickup truck hauling a 33 foot trailer on U.S. highway 95 north of Orovada was blown over.

8. Jun 5, 2016Thunderstorm Wind$10,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Downburst winds from collapsing thunderstorm damaged buildings, bee houses, irrigation sprinklers, as well as blew down trees. The observer estimated that winds were over 50 mph. Time estimated based off radar and nearby wind observations. Damages are estimated.

9. Jun 5, 2009Flash Flood$5,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Up to two inches of rain fell from a severe thunderstorm over Orovada resulting in flooding of several businesses, a church, and a residential home.

10. Jul 8, 2015Thunderstorm Wind$5,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    Thunderstorm winds toppled a tree onto a house and multiple trees were snapped or uprooted. The winds also caused minor damage to power poles. Damages are estimated.

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

109°FJul 11, 2002

All-time low

−37°FDec 22, 1990

Warmest night

74°F3 times, most recently Jul 13, 1967

Coldest day

−1°FJan 19, 1883

Wettest day

1.58 inOct 24, 1951

Snowiest day

10.9 inJan 12, 1890

Hottest year

1934mean 53.2°F

Coldest year

1985mean 46.0°F

Wettest year

199816.10 in

Driest year

19543.13 in

Snowiest season

75.0 in1889-90

Station Winnemucca Airport (USW00024128), 4,300 ft elevation, 8.7 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1877 to October 26, 2026; 100.0% 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 USW00024128.
• 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.