California tornadoes
Every recorded tornado since 1950 · 48 counties with a record
California has recorded 486 tornadoes from 1950 through 2025, about 7.9 a year since 2000, with 2 rated F3/EF3 or stronger (NOAA Storm Prediction Center). The costliest was the August 6, 2015 tornado ($22.4 million in 2025 dollars). California ranks 31st of 52 states and territories by count and 43rd of 51 per square mile.
Tornadoes in California, 1950 to 2025
Tornadoes per year (SPC; a tornado that crossed a state line counts in each state it touched).
- recorded, no damage figure
- under $1 million
- $1 million or more
- $10 million or more
- $100 million or more, or 10 deaths
- $1 billion or more, or 100 deaths
- a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
- a year with a death
- 1996: tornado reports rose with NEXRAD Doppler radar, mid-1990s (SPC)
- Tornadoes
- 4861950 to 2025
- A year since 2000
- 7.9average
- Deaths
- 097 injuries
- F3/EF3 or stronger
- 20% of tornadoes
- Busiest year
- 200530 tornadoes
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025 (state segments). SPC severe weather database.
Are tornadoes common in California?
California averages about 7.9 tornadoes a year since 2000, 31st of 52 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2005 (30). Per 10,000 square miles of land, California records 31 tornadoes since 1950, 43rd of 51 states and territories by that measure.
Source: NOAA SPC, tornadoes 1950-2025, per 10,000 square miles of land area (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles not ranked). Damage colours: Storm Events damage, 2025 dollars.
Which counties in California have the most tornadoes?
Per square mile, Orange County leads California: 27 days with a tornado record since 1950, 34.1 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Los Angeles County has the most tornado records (50 since 1950); large counties collect more records simply by covering more ground, so the ranking counts days with a record per unit of area (a storm filed for several forecast zones adds several records but one day).
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1950 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.
When is tornado season in California?
California's tornadoes by month. The busiest month is March (86 tornadoes).
The values, month by month
Jan 57 · Feb 69 · Mar 86 · Apr 59 · May 41 · Jun 13 · Jul 17 · Aug 21 · Sep 24 · Oct 19 · Nov 33 · Dec 47 (records).
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, state segments by the month they began, 1950-2025.
Where have the strongest tornadoes tracked in California?
- F2/EF2
- F3/EF3
- F4/EF4
- F5/EF5
- no end point filed
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, start and end points of each track; county lines: Census Bureau cartographic boundaries (2017), via us-atlas. SPC severe weather database. Census cartographic boundary files.
The strongest tornadoes in California
| Date | Counties | Rating | Path in state | Width | Killed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978-02-09 | Orange | F3 | 2 mi | 67 yd | 0 |
| 1973-08-16 | Blythe · Riverside | F3 | 0.1 mi | 10 yd | 0 |
| 1958-06-01 | Santa Rosa · Sonoma | F2 | 15 mi | 50 yd | 0 |
| 1980-04-05 | Hanford · Kings, Tulare | F2 | 15 mi | 10 yd | 0 |
| 2020-09-05 | Madera | EF2 | 12.02 mi | 50 yd | 0 |
| 1966-11-07 | Los Angeles · Los Angeles | F2 | 10.3 mi | 50 yd | 0 |
| 1982-11-09 | Long Beach · Los Angeles | F2 | 10 mi | 1,300 yd | 0 |
| 1951-01-11 | Palo Alto to Sunnyvale · Santa Clara | F2 | 5.7 mi | 10 yd | 0 |
| 1983-03-01 | Los Angeles · Los Angeles | F2 | 3.5 mi | 100 yd | 0 |
| 2008-05-22 | Moreno Valley · Riverside | EF2 | 2.8 mi | 75 yd | 0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database; F scale before February 1, 2007, EF scale after.
The longest tornado paths in California
| Date | Tornado and counties | Rating | Path in state | Width | Killed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-05-25 | Glenn | EF1 | 26.37 mi | 120 yd | 0 |
| 2011-05-25 | Glenn | EF1 | 21.65 mi | 120 yd | 0 |
| 1958-06-01 | Santa Rosa · Sonoma | F2 | 15 mi | 50 yd | 0 |
| 1980-04-05 | Hanford · Kings, Tulare | F2 | 15 mi | 10 yd | 0 |
| 2010-01-21 | Riverside | EF0 | 14.26 mi | 100 yd | 0 |
| 2007-09-01 | Kern | EF0 | 13.05 mi | 75 yd | 0 |
| 2020-09-05 | Madera | EF2 | 12.02 mi | 50 yd | 0 |
| 1977-03-16 | Orange | F1 | 10.9 mi | 10 yd | 0 |
| 1966-11-07 | Los Angeles · Los Angeles | F2 | 10.3 mi | 50 yd | 0 |
| 1982-11-09 | Long Beach · Los Angeles | F2 | 10 mi | 1,300 yd | 0 |
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, state segments: path length and width inside the state. SPC severe weather database.
Tornadoes in every California county
All 48 counties: tornadoes whose track touched each, and the strongest
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database: whole tornadoes whose track touched the county (any state segment listing it). SPC severe weather database.
The costliest tornadoes in California
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-08-06 | TornadoMecca, Riverside County The damage was west of Highway 111 between 64th and 66th Avenues, paralleling Highway 86 towards the mountains, or approximately 3 1/2 miles. An emergency manager for the Imperial irrigation water district (IID) reported a total of 140 poles damaged, 30 of which were steel. | EF1 3.98 mi x 900 yd | 0 | 2 | $22M |
| 1993-01-17 | TornadoLake Forest, Orange County A tornado ripped through a residential section, tearing shingles from roofs, uprooting trees and scattering debris over a several block area. There was damage to 31 homes. | F0 0.1 mi x 10 yd | 0 | 1 | $10M |
| 1994-02-10 | TornadoOroville, Butte County A tornado formed behind a cold front and traveled through a housing subdivision in Oroville. A total of 47 homes were damaged. One home was destroyed while 25 others suffered major damage. The funnel of the tornado was spotted by many residents and several descibed a "noise like a freight train". A full sized ... | F2 0.3 mi x 20 yd | 0 | 2 | $10.0M |
| 1998-05-05 | TornadoSunnyvale, Santa Clara County A Tornado touched down in the Chevy Chase residential area of Sunnyvale, CA near Hwy 85. The storm survey assessed the Damage to 15 home and a large chucrch as a mininimal F2.. One woman was injured when struck by flying debris. The storm was well documented on a video shot by a person from their backyard. The storm ... | F2 0.6 mi x 100 yd | 0 | 1 | $6.9M |
| 2010-01-21 | TornadoRipley, Riverside County Motorists reported a tornado crossing Interstate 10 near Intake Blvd, where two semi trucks were blown over. Numerous power poles down, and considerable damage to homes and other structures in and around Blythe. Roofs were blown off some homes. The rain-wrapped tornado had peak wind gusts estimated at 80 mph as it ... | EF0 14.26 mi x 100 yd | 0 | 0 | $4.1M |
| 1998-12-05 | TornadoSanta Rosa, Sonoma County | F1 1.5 mi x 150 yd | 0 | 0 | $1.8M |
| 2015-11-15 | TornadoDenair, Stanislaus County 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 ... | EF1 3.04 mi x 150 yd | 0 | 0 | $1.5M |
| 2015-12-24 | TornadoClarksville, El Dorado County A tornado touched down at Folsom Lake, and tracked eastward through El Dorado Hills, damaging business and home roofs, and knocking down fences and trees. The tornado continued eastward about 6 miles into Cameron Park, though it was not on the ground continuously. More roofs, trees, and fences were damaged in Cameron ... | EF1 6.21 mi x 100 yd | 0 | 0 | $1.2M |
Before 1993 NOAA filed damage by category, not amount, so the list above starts in 1993. The highest category filed here before then (entered as $25M, in the dollars of the day) holds: March 1, 1983 (tornado, Los Angeles County); June 5, 1987 (tornado, Los Angeles County).
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.
Are tornadoes becoming more frequent in California?
California's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. The Storm Prediction Center notes that tornado reports rose especially around the installation of the NEXRAD Doppler radar network in the mid-1990s, so a rising count is partly better detection; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.
| Decade | California | United States | California's share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 22 | 4,837 | 0.5% |
| 1960s | 26 | 6,863 | 0.4% |
| 1970s | 42 | 8,633 | 0.5% |
| 1980s | 61 | 8,250 | 0.7% |
| 1990s | 137 | 12,205 | 1.1% |
| 2000s | 83 | 12,892 | 0.6% |
| 2010s | 81 | 12,232 | 0.7% |
| 2020-25 | 34 | 8,234 | 0.4% |
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, state segments.
The most recent tornadoes in California
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-04-12 | TornadoVina, Tehama County | EF0 0.1 mi x 15 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2025-04-01 | TornadoSalida, Stanislaus County | EF0 0.9 mi x 70 yd | 0 | 0 | $20K |
| 2025-03-13 | TornadoPico, Los Angeles County | EF0 0.97 mi x 80 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2025-02-13 | TornadoOxnard, Ventura County | EF0 0.63 mi x 20 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2025-01-03 | TornadoDales, Tehama County | EFU 0.8 mi x 50 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2024-12-14 | TornadoScotts Vly, Santa Cruz County | EF1 0.31 mi x 30 yd | 0 | 5 | $9 |
| 2024-03-01 | TornadoKismet, Madera County | EF0 0.42 mi x 10 yd | 0 | 0 | $47K |
| 2024-02-07 | TornadoBaywood Park, San Luis Obispo County | EF1 4.87 mi x 50 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2024-02-07 | TornadoGrover City, San Luis Obispo County | EF1 0.69 mi x 50 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2023-12-19 | TornadoChico Municipal Airport, Butte County | EF1 0.36 mi x 90 yd | 0 | 0 | $16K |
| 2023-05-04 | TornadoCompton, Los Angeles County | EF0 0.73 mi x 15 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
| 2023-05-04 | TornadoCompton Municipal Airport, Los Angeles County | EF0 0.06 mi x 15 yd | 0 | 0 | – |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; the newest months are revised by NCEI as reports arrive. Search the record at NCEI.
Federal disaster declarations for tornadoes in California
FEMA has declared 2 disasters in California for tornadoes, counting its incident type and declarations that name tornado in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 2 were major disasters, the latest on April 13, 2024.
| Declared | Number | Title | Areas named |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-04-13 | DR-4769 | Severe Winter Storms, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides | 9 |
| 1983-02-09 | DR-677 | Coastal Storms, Floods, Slides & Tornadoes | 40 |
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.
Next
- Orange County: the county's whole recordThe California county with the most tornadoes per square mile
- Tornadoes across the United StatesEvery state ranked, by year and month
- Every natural hazard in CaliforniaTornadoes, floods, storms, heat and the federal declarations
- High wind and dust storms in California9,795 records
- Floods in California7,136 records
- Winter storms in California6,961 records