Kings County, California severe weather history spans 157 recorded events between 1964 and 2024. The dominant hazard is flood, accounting for 21.7% of all recorded events. It ranks #2,669 nationally and #29 in California.
157
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
1
Direct injuries
$1.9M
Property damage
The record
What the Kings County, California severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, Kings County, California severe weather history averages 2.6 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2000s, with 65 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 6 events fall before 1990 and 151 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The costliest is flood, with $819K in reported property damage. In total, 9 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in Kings County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flood | 34 | 0 | $819K | 0 | 1996–2024 |
| Heavy Rain | 31 | 0 | $131K | 0 | 1998–2017 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 27 | 0 | $406K | 61 | 1995–2023 |
| Hail | 24 | 0 | $2K | 2.5 | 1964–2017 |
| Funnel Cloud | 16 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1996–2024 |
| Lightning | 10 | 0 | $51K | 0 | 2002–2017 |
| Tornado | 8 | 0 | $540K | F2 | 1964–1996 |
| Flash Flood | 6 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2001–2019 |
| Debris Flow | 1 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2018–2018 |
Decade by decade
Kings County, California severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
7 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 7 touched down inside it and 0 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980-04-05 | EF2 | 0 | 1 | 15.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1996-11-22 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.8 mi | Touched down here |
| 1996-03-12 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1996-03-12 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1996-11-22 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 mi | Touched down here |
| 1994-03-05 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1991-10-12 | EF0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in Kings County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 5, 1980 | Tornado | 0 | 1 | $250K |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Heavy rain caused widespread urban and poor drainage flooding on the morning of the 29th across much of the San Joaquin Valley. Especially hard hit were the metro areas of Fresno, Visalia, and Bakersfield, and the adjacent foothills.
Gusty wind with a thunderstorm measured at 42 MPH at Lemoore Naval Air Station brought down 32 power poles in north Kings County. the power company indicated 20,000 customers were affected by the downed lines for up to 12 hours.
Oak tree limbs were broken and other full-foilaged trees were toppled by brief strong wind in the Hanford/Lemoore area, 30 miles south-southeast of Fresno. In Hanford, one of the toppled trees damaged a car. A post-event survey was unable to ascertain whether severe thunderstorm wind criteria were met because soils were moist and trees were full-foilaged. However, the damage location just south of the Fresno County line and timing of the damage places this damage in proximity to severe storm damage in south-central Fresno County at Raisin City/Caruthers/and Easton.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Relatively Moderate
FEMA NRI risk rating
153,298
Population (ACS)
$324K
Median home value
19
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 3, 2023 | Severe Storm | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | DR |
| Mar 10, 2023 | Flood | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES, AND MUDSLIDES | EM |
| Jan 9, 2023 | Flood | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | EM |
| Mar 22, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR |
| Mar 13, 2020 | Biological | COVID-19 | EM |
| Apr 1, 2017 | Flood | SEVERE WINTER STORMS, FLOODING, AND MUDSLIDES | DR |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in Kings County, California?
157 events are on record between 1964 and 2024, causing 0 direct deaths and $1.9M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in Kings County?
Flood, with 34 recorded events — 21.7% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed Kings County?
7 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 7 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover Kings County?
19 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include Kings County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is Kings County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Kings County as relatively moderate risk, placing it in the 92 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the Kings County, California severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- Kern County 832
- Lake County 53
- Inyo County 302
- Lassen County 112
- Imperial County 257
- Los Angeles County 515
Cite this page
“Kings County, California.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/california/kings-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.