NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Bell Gardens, 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 Bell Gardens, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 55 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 55
- 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 Bell Gardens
The highest rating among the 55 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2, reached 5 times; the most recent, on March 1, 1983, came within 11 miles. Of the 55, 2 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 14 have come since 2000. January has had the most tornadoes, 12. The most recent tornado was on March 13, 2025. Bell Gardens has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 95% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 5 times since 2000, with stones up to 1 inch (quarter size). Bell Gardens has more hail reports within 10 miles than 62% of the 705 California cities.
Compare Bell Gardens's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Bell Gardens
By decade
- 2020s5
- 2010s2
- 2000s7
- 1990s15
- 1980s13
- 1970s6
- 1960s5
- 1950s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 1983 | F2 | 11 mi | 3.5 mi | 0 / 30 |
| Nov 9, 1982 | F2 | 9 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 9, 1982 | F2 | 21 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | 5 mi | 10.3 mi | 0 / 10 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | 9 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 22, 2023 | EF1 | 3 mi | 0.47 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jan 19, 2010 | EF1 | 18 mi | 4.62 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 9, 1998 | F1 | 13 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Dec 21, 1997 | F1 | 23 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 14, 1993 | F1 | 14 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 7, 1992 | F1 | 18 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 7, 1992 | F1 | 18 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 55, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Bell Gardens
The Storm Prediction Center has 5 hail reports within 10 miles of Bell Gardens since 2000, made on 4 separate days. Of these, 2 were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest, 1 inch (quarter size), fell on March 15, 2024. The most recent report is from March 24, 2024.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Bell Gardens
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Los Angeles Dwtn Usc Campus, CA, 7 miles northwest of Bell Gardens at 230 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 84°F and low of 65°F; December is the coolest, at 67°F and 48°F. February is the wettest at 3.6 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 14.2 inches over 21 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 25 days a year, almost all from April to November. A night below freezing comes less than once a year on average. That 14.2 inches is more than at 96 of the 226 California stations used on this site (42%). Downey, 3 miles southeast, has its own station (Long Beach Daugherty Field, CA): 12.3 inches a year, 1.9 less than here, and an August average high of 83°F against 84°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Santa Monica, CA, 19 miles west, averaged 69°F in August and 58°F in January and March over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Los Angeles tide gauge, 18 miles from Bell Gardens, has risen 0.42 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1923 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 4.2 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 24 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 68 | 49 | 3.3 | 4 | 58 |
| Feb | 68 | 50 | 3.6 | 5 | 58 |
| Mar | 70 | 52 | 2.2 | 3 | 58 |
| Apr | 72 | 55 | 0.7 | 1 | 59 |
| May | 74 | 58 | 0.3 | 1 | 62 |
| Jun | 77 | 61 | 0.1 | 0 | 66 |
| Jul | 82 | 65 | 0.0 | 0 | 68 |
| Aug | 84 | 65 | 0.0 | 0 | 69 |
| Sep | 83 | 64 | 0.1 | 0 | 69 |
| Oct | 79 | 60 | 0.6 | 1 | 65 |
| Nov | 73 | 53 | 0.8 | 2 | 62 |
| Dec | 67 | 48 | 2.5 | 4 | 60 |
| Year | 75 | 57 | 14.2 | 21 | 63 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Los Angeles Dwtn Usc Campus, CA (230 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Santa Monica, 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 Bell Gardens
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 25 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Bell Gardens: 12 thunderstorm wind reports, 8 flash floods, 4 floods and 1 lightning strike. They killed 1 person and injured 3, and the NWS estimated $3.2 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on April 18, 2000. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 247 have had fewer than Bell Gardens.
June 22, 2022: lightning strike 5 miles from the centre of Bell Gardens — 1 killed.
February 23, 2000: thunderstorm wind 8 miles from the centre of Bell Gardens — 1 injured.
April 20, 2001: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Bell Gardens — 1 injured.
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
Los Angeles County, which includes Bell Gardens, has been named in 88 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 35 of them major disasters (by incident: 61 fires, 10 floods, 8 severe storms, 3 earthquakes). The latest major disaster declaration was Wildfires and Straight-Line Winds, on January 8, 2025. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Los Angeles County a Very High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for inland flooding and lightning; Relatively High for tornadoes, coastal flooding and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for hail and strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $7.60 billion a year, the highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $2.81 billion (37%), 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.