NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Carlsbad, 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 Carlsbad, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 18 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 18
- 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 Carlsbad
The highest rating among the 18 tornadoes within 25 miles is F1, reached 6 times; the most recent, on November 10, 2000, came within 20 miles. Of the 18, 5 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 7 have come since 2000. February has had the most tornadoes, 6. The most recent tornado was on September 22, 2007. Carlsbad has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 59% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles once, in 2013, with stones of 0.75 inches (penny size). Of the 705 California cities, 72% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Carlsbad.
Compare Carlsbad's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Carlsbad
By decade
- 2000s7
- 1990s5
- 1980s2
- 1970s3
- 1960s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 10, 2000 | F1 | 20 mi | 0.4 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 29, 1998 | F1 | 5 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 27, 1991 | F1 | 7 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 20, 1980 | F1 | 24 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 18, 1978 | F1 | 8 mi | 0.8 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 8, 1961 | F1 | 5 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 3 |
| Sep 22, 2007 | EF0 | 7 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 11, 2006 | F0 | 21 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 10, 2006 | F0 | 5 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 19, 2005 | F0 | 22 mi | 2.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 19, 2005 | F0 | 16 mi | 2.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 17, 2004 | F0 | 8 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 18, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Carlsbad
The Storm Prediction Center has one hail report within 10 miles of Carlsbad, from November 22, 2013: 0.75 inches (penny size).
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Carlsbad
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Carlsbad Palomar Airport, CA, in Carlsbad at 328 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 76°F and low of 65°F; December is the coolest, at 65°F and 47°F. February is the wettest at 2.6 inches of precipitation on average and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 11.4 inches over 21 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 3 days a year, almost all from October. A night below freezing comes less than once a year on average. That 11.4 inches is more than at 53 of the 226 California stations used on this site (23%). Vista, 6 miles northeast, has its own station (Vista, CA): 13.5 inches a year, 2.1 more than here, and an August average high of 81°F against 76°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station La Jolla, CA, 18 miles south, averaged 68°F in August and 58°F in January and February over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the La Jolla tide gauge, 18 miles from Carlsbad, has risen 0.80 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1924 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 8.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 39 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 65 | 48 | 2.5 | 4 | 58 |
| Feb | 64 | 49 | 2.6 | 5 | 58 |
| Mar | 65 | 51 | 1.6 | 3 | 59 |
| Apr | 66 | 53 | 0.9 | 2 | 60 |
| May | 68 | 57 | 0.3 | 1 | 64 |
| Jun | 70 | 60 | 0.1 | 0 | 65 |
| Jul | 74 | 64 | 0.1 | 0 | 67 |
| Aug | 76 | 65 | 0.0 | 0 | 68 |
| Sep | 76 | 64 | 0.1 | 0 | 67 |
| Oct | 73 | 59 | 0.5 | 1 | 65 |
| Nov | 70 | 52 | 1.0 | 2 | 63 |
| Dec | 65 | 47 | 1.7 | 4 | 60 |
| Year | 69 | 56 | 11.4 | 21 | 63 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Carlsbad Palomar Airport, CA (328 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station La Jolla, 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 Carlsbad
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 92 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Carlsbad: 46 floods, 15 flash floods, 14 thunderstorm wind reports, 11 heavy rain events and 6 lightning strikes. They killed 0 people and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $38.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 64 mph, on March 5, 2000. January has had the most flash floods, 8 of 15. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 381 have had fewer than Carlsbad.
June 3, 2009: lightning strike 9 miles from the centre of Carlsbad — 2 injured.
December 19, 2010: flood 10 miles from the centre of Carlsbad — $36.0 million damage.
NWS: “Orange County officials estimate the total damages to public and private property at $36 million, due the 10+ of rain received by many areas. The city of Laguna Beach was certainly the hardest hit, making up approximately $12 million of the county's damages.”
January 11, 2005: flash flood 8 miles from the centre of Carlsbad — $1.5 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
Flood insurance policyholders in Carlsbad's 4 ZIP codes have filed 57 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $164,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1988: 25 claims (44% of all) and $13,000. 54% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 415 California cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 250 have fewer than Carlsbad.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1988 | 25 | $13,000 |
San Diego County, which includes Carlsbad, has been named in 51 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1965, 27 of them major disasters (by incident: 28 fires, 12 floods, 5 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Storm and Flooding, on February 19, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives San Diego County a Very High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for inland flooding; Relatively High for heat waves; Relatively Moderate for hail, coastal flooding, strong wind and lightning; Relatively Low for tornadoes; Very Low for hurricanes. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $1.54 billion a year, the 7th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $647.6 million (42%), 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.