NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Carmel Valley, 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 Carmel Valley, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 5 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 5
- 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 Carmel Valley
The highest rating among the 5 tornadoes within 25 miles is F1, reached 2 times; the most recent, on December 6, 1992, came within 14 miles. Of the 5, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and one has come since 2000. The most recent tornado was on April 22, 2016. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 79% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Carmel Valley. Hail has been reported within 10 miles once, in 2019, with stones of 0.25 inches. Of the 705 California cities, 72% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Carmel Valley.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Carmel Valley
By decade
- 2010s1
- 1990s3
- 1980s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 6, 1992 | F1 | 15 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 6, 1992 | F1 | 14 mi | 7 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Apr 22, 2016 | EF0 | 23 mi | 0.24 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 11, 1992 | F0 | 17 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 3, 1987 | F0 | 23 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 5 of 5, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Carmel Valley
The Storm Prediction Center has one hail report within 10 miles of Carmel Valley, from February 17, 2019: 0.25 inches.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Carmel Valley
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Carmel Valley, CA, 3 miles northwest of Carmel Valley at 480 feet. September is the warmest, with an average high of 81°F and low of 51°F; December is the coolest, at 63°F and 40°F. January is the wettest at 3.9 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 17.9 inches over 37 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 20 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 12 nights a year. That 17.9 inches is more than at 127 of the 226 California stations used on this site (56%). Carmel, 13 miles northwest, has its own station (Monterey, CA): 20.6 inches a year, 2.7 more than here, and a September average high of 71°F against 81°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Monterey, CA, 16 miles northwest, 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, 16 miles from Carmel Valley, 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 | 63 | 40 | 3.9 | 7 | 56 |
| Feb | 64 | 41 | 3.5 | 7 | 56 |
| Mar | 67 | 42 | 2.8 | 6 | 55 |
| Apr | 69 | 43 | 1.4 | 4 | 56 |
| May | 71 | 46 | 0.5 | 2 | 57 |
| Jun | 76 | 48 | 0.1 | 0 | 58 |
| Jul | 79 | 51 | 0.0 | 0 | 60 |
| Aug | 80 | 51 | 0.1 | 0 | 61 |
| Sep | 81 | 51 | 0.1 | 0 | 62 |
| Oct | 78 | 48 | 0.8 | 2 | 60 |
| Nov | 69 | 42 | 1.7 | 4 | 57 |
| Dec | 63 | 40 | 3.0 | 7 | 57 |
| Year | 71 | 45 | 17.9 | 37 | 58 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Carmel Valley, CA (480 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 Carmel Valley
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 5 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Carmel Valley: 4 floods and 1 flash flood. They killed 1 person and injured 0.
February 13, 2025: flood 6 miles from the centre of Carmel Valley — 1 killed.
NWS: “An elderly man went missing while walking his dog in Garland Ranch Regional Park, and was last heard from around 10:30 AM. Around 11 AM, hikers found his dog and returned it to the man's family, who reported him missing at noon.”
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 Carmel Valley's ZIP code 93924 have filed 257 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $3.3 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1995: 185 claims (72% of all) and $1.5 million, then Pineapple Express - Southern in 1998 with 36 and California Atmospheric River in 2023 with 16. 92% 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, 379 have fewer than Carmel Valley.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1995 | 185 | $1.5 million |
| Pineapple Express - Southern1998 | 36 | $281,000 |
| California Atmospheric River2023 | 16 | $950,000 |
Monterey County, which includes Carmel Valley, has been named in 33 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1967, 23 of them major disasters (by incident: 8 floods, 8 severe storms, 7 fires, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storms, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, on April 13, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Monterey County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for inland flooding; Relatively Moderate for lightning and heat waves; Relatively Low for tornadoes and coastal flooding; Very Low for hail and strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $402.4 million a year, the 17th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $109.3 million (27%), 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.
Cities near Carmel Valley
- Carmel, CA13 mi
- Seaside, CA14 mi
- Monterey, CA15 mi
- Gonzales, CA15 mi
- Marina, CA17 mi
- Salinas, CA17 mi
- Pebble Beach, CA18 mi
- Pacific Grove, CA18 mi
- Soledad, CA20 mi
- Castroville, CA22 mi
- Greenfield, CA24 mi
- San Juan Bautista, CA28 mi
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