NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Aromas, CA
Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
No tropical storm or hurricane has passed within 75 miles of Aromas, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 15 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 15
- EF3 or stronger
- 0
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
no recorded deaths
What the records show for Aromas
The strongest of the 15 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F2 on March 11, 1985; its path came within 13 miles. Of the 15, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 7 have come since 2000. December has had the most tornadoes, 7. The most recent tornado was on December 14, 2024. Aromas has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 52% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 8 times since 2001, with stones up to 1 inch (quarter size). Aromas has more hail reports within 10 miles than 82% of the 705 California cities.
Compare Aromas's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Aromas
By decade
- 2020s1
- 2010s4
- 2000s2
- 1990s4
- 1980s3
- 1960s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 11, 1985 | F2 | 13 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 14, 2024 | EF1 | 25 mi | 0.31 mi | 0 / 5 |
| Dec 20, 2001 | F1 | 9 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 6, 1992 | F1 | 24 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 6, 1992 | F1 | 21 mi | 7 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Apr 1, 1965 | F1 | 11 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 6, 2019 | EF0 | 22 mi | 0.54 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 6, 2019 | EF0 | 23 mi | 0.07 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 6, 2016 | EF0 | 14 mi | 0.61 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 22, 2012 | EF0 | 11 mi | 1.07 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 14, 2007 | EF0 | 8 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 5, 1998 | F0 | 23 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 15, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Aromas
The Storm Prediction Center has 8 hail reports within 10 miles of Aromas since 2001, made on 6 separate days. Of these, one was 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest, 1 inch (quarter size), fell on December 20, 2001. The most recent report is from March 25, 2020.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Aromas
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Watsonville Wtr Wks, CA, 8 miles northwest of Aromas at 95 feet. September is the warmest, with an average high of 74°F and low of 53°F; December is the coolest, at 62°F and 39°F. February and December are the wettest at 4.5 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 22.7 inches over 39 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 7 days a year, almost all from September to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 8 nights a year. That 22.7 inches is more than at 156 of the 226 California stations used on this site (69%). San Juan Bautista, 7 miles southeast, has its own station (Hollister 2, CA): 13.8 inches a year, 8.9 less than here, and a September average high of 81°F against 74°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Monterey, CA, 24 miles southwest, averaged 62°F in September and 55°F in March over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Monterey tide gauge, 24 miles from Aromas, has risen 0.70 ± 0.13 inches per decade from 1973 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 7.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 32 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 62 | 40 | 4.4 | 7 | 56 |
| Feb | 63 | 42 | 4.5 | 7 | 56 |
| Mar | 65 | 43 | 3.6 | 6 | 55 |
| Apr | 68 | 45 | 1.6 | 4 | 56 |
| May | 69 | 49 | 0.6 | 1 | 57 |
| Jun | 71 | 52 | 0.1 | 0 | 58 |
| Jul | 71 | 54 | 0.0 | 0 | 60 |
| Aug | 72 | 55 | 0.0 | 0 | 61 |
| Sep | 74 | 53 | 0.1 | 0 | 62 |
| Oct | 74 | 49 | 1.0 | 2 | 60 |
| Nov | 68 | 43 | 2.3 | 4 | 57 |
| Dec | 62 | 39 | 4.5 | 7 | 57 |
| Year | 68 | 47 | 22.7 | 39 | 58 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Watsonville Wtr Wks, CA (95 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Monterey, CA, from NOAA Tides & Currents. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Aromas
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 50 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Aromas: 40 floods, 7 flash floods, 2 heavy rain events and 1 thunderstorm wind report. They killed 1 person and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $2.0 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 46 mph, on August 16, 2020. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 226 have had fewer than Aromas.
December 15, 2008: heavy rain event 9 miles from the centre of Aromas — 1 killed, $15,000 damage.
January 27, 2021: flood 7 miles from the centre of Aromas — $2.0 million damage.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
San Benito County, which includes Aromas, has been named in 18 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 13 of them major disasters (by incident: 6 floods, 5 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 1 coastal storm). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, on April 3, 2023. FEMA's National Risk Index gives San Benito County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively Low for inland flooding and heat waves; Very Low for tornadoes, hail, strong wind and lightning. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $80.0 million a year, the 40th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $18.2 million (23%), is from inland flooding.
Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. 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).
Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets 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).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.