NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Carpinteria, 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 Carpinteria, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 7 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 7
- 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 Carpinteria
The strongest of the 7 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F1 on January 3, 1977; its path came within 17 miles. Of the 7, one had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 5 have come since 2000. The most recent tornado was on March 21, 2023. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 72% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Carpinteria.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Carpinteria
By decade
- 2020s1
- 2010s3
- 2000s1
- 1990s1
- 1970s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 3, 1977 | F1 | 17 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 21, 2023 | EF0 | 1 mi | 0.24 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Dec 25, 2019 | EF0 | 18 mi | 0.84 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 21, 2010 | EF0 | 21 mi | 1.51 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 19, 2010 | EF0 | 20 mi | 0.14 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 10, 2005 | F0 | 23 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 24, 1994 | F0 | 10 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 7 of 7, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Carpinteria
The Storm Prediction Center has no hail reports within 10 miles of Carpinteria since 1955.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Carpinteria
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Santa Barbara, CA, 9 miles west of Carpinteria at 16 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 78°F and low of 60°F; December is the coolest, at 66°F and 46°F. January and February are the wettest at 4.4 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 18.9 inches over 25 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 5 days a year, almost all from September to October. A night below freezing comes less than once a year on average. That 18.9 inches is more than at 133 of the 226 California stations used on this site (59%). Oak View, 13 miles east, has its own station (Ojai, CA): 20.6 inches a year, 1.7 more than here, and an August average high of 91°F against 78°F.
Sea level at the Santa Barbara tide gauge, 10 miles from Carpinteria, has risen 0.41 ± 0.16 inches per decade from 1973 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 4.1 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 23 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 67 | 47 | 4.4 | 5 |
| Feb | 67 | 47 | 4.4 | 5 |
| Mar | 68 | 49 | 3.2 | 4 |
| Apr | 71 | 51 | 1.0 | 2 |
| May | 72 | 54 | 0.4 | 1 |
| Jun | 73 | 57 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Jul | 76 | 60 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Aug | 78 | 60 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Sep | 78 | 60 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Oct | 76 | 56 | 0.8 | 1 |
| Nov | 71 | 50 | 1.4 | 2 |
| Dec | 66 | 46 | 3.1 | 4 |
| Year | 72 | 53 | 18.9 | 25 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Santa Barbara, CA (16 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. 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 Carpinteria
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 23 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Carpinteria: 13 flash floods and 10 thunderstorm wind reports. They killed 0 people and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $30,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on September 3, 2017. March has had the most flash floods, 5 of 13. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 341 have had fewer than Carpinteria.
September 3, 2017: thunderstorm wind 10 miles from the centre of Carpinteria — 2 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
Flood insurance policyholders in Carpinteria's ZIP code 93013 have filed 178 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $2.8 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1983: 78 claims (44% of all) and $1.1 million, then Pineapple Express - Southern in 1998 with 21 and California Atmospheric River in 2023 with 14. 71% 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, 362 have fewer than Carpinteria.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1983 | 78 | $1.1 million |
| Pineapple Express - Southern1998 | 21 | $132,000 |
| California Atmospheric River2023 | 14 | $688,000 |
| Mid-Winter California Flooding2018 | 14 | $648,000 |
Santa Barbara County, which includes Carpinteria, has been named in 43 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 27 of them major disasters (by incident: 15 fires, 13 floods, 7 severe storms, 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 Santa Barbara County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for inland flooding; Relatively Low for coastal flooding, lightning and heat waves; Very Low for tornadoes, hail and strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $477.3 million a year, the 14th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $166.8 million (35%), 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 Carpinteria
- Santa Barbara, CA12 mi
- Oak View, CA13 mi
- Ojai, CA16 mi
- Ventura, CA19 mi
- Goleta, CA24 mi
- Oxnard, CA24 mi
- Port Hueneme, CA26 mi
- Santa Paula, CA26 mi
- Somis, CA30 mi
- Camarillo, CA31 mi
- Santa Ynez, CA35 mi
- Fillmore, CA35 mi
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