NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Chula Vista, 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 Chula Vista, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 10 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 10
- 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 Chula Vista
The highest rating among the 10 tornadoes within 25 miles is F1, reached 4 times; the most recent, on November 10, 2000, came within 22 miles. Of the 10, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 2 have come since 2000. February has had the most tornadoes, 4. The most recent tornado was on February 23, 2005. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 59% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Chula Vista. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 3 times since 1958, with stones up to 1 inch (quarter size). Of the 705 California cities, 44% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Chula Vista.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Chula Vista
By decade
- 2000s2
- 1990s2
- 1980s3
- 1970s2
- 1950s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 10, 2000 | F1 | 22 mi | 0.4 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 19, 1991 | F1 | 9 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 20, 1980 | F1 | 14 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 13, 1956 | F1 | 3 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Feb 23, 2005 | F0 | 3 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 14, 1990 | F0 | 9 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 4, 1985 | F0 | 12 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 17, 1982 | F0 | 11 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 18, 1979 | F0 | 12 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 23, 1971 | F0 | 3 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 10 of 10, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Chula Vista
The Storm Prediction Center has 3 hail reports within 10 miles of Chula Vista since 1958. Of these, one was 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest, 1 inch (quarter size), fell on February 25, 1958. The most recent report is from December 12, 2022.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Chula Vista
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Chula Vista, CA, 4 miles west of Chula Vista at 56 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 77°F and low of 66°F; December is the coolest, at 67°F and 46°F. February is the wettest at 2.3 inches of precipitation on average and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 9.4 inches over 20 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 9.4 inches is more than at 36 of the 226 California stations used on this site (16%). San Ysidro, 5 miles south, has its own station (San Diego Brown Field, CA): 10.1 inches a year, 0.7 more than here, and an August average high of 81°F against 77°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station San Diego, CA, 11 miles northwest, averaged 72°F in August and 59°F in January over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the San Diego tide gauge, 11 miles from Chula Vista, has risen 0.88 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1906 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 8.8 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 51 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 68 | 47 | 1.8 | 4 | 59 |
| Feb | 67 | 48 | 2.3 | 4 | 60 |
| Mar | 67 | 51 | 1.4 | 3 | 61 |
| Apr | 68 | 54 | 0.7 | 2 | 63 |
| May | 69 | 58 | 0.3 | 1 | 66 |
| Jun | 71 | 61 | 0.1 | 0 | 69 |
| Jul | 75 | 65 | 0.1 | 0 | 71 |
| Aug | 77 | 66 | 0.0 | 0 | 72 |
| Sep | 77 | 64 | 0.1 | 0 | 72 |
| Oct | 75 | 59 | 0.4 | 1 | 68 |
| Nov | 71 | 51 | 0.6 | 2 | 65 |
| Dec | 67 | 46 | 1.6 | 3 | 61 |
| Year | 71 | 56 | 9.4 | 20 | 65 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Chula Vista, CA (56 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station San Diego, 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 Chula Vista
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 104 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Chula Vista: 49 floods, 30 flash floods, 14 thunderstorm wind reports, 8 heavy rain events and 3 lightning strikes. They killed 2 people and injured 15, and the NWS estimated $37.8 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 70 mph, on December 20, 2007. January has had the most flash floods, 14 of 30. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 503 have had fewer than Chula Vista.
January 29, 2021: flash flood 6 miles from the centre of Chula Vista — 1 killed, 8 injured.
February 6, 2024: flood 6 miles from the centre of Chula Vista — 1 killed.
December 17, 2008: flash flood 6 miles from the centre of Chula Vista — 3 injured, $860,000 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 Chula Vista's 3 ZIP codes have filed 25 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $199,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 28% 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, 125 have fewer than Chula Vista.
San Diego County, which includes Chula Vista, 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.
Cities near Chula Vista
- Bonita, CA2 mi
- National City, CA5 mi
- San Ysidro, CA5 mi
- Imperial Beach, CA6 mi
- Spring Valley, CA7 mi
- Lemon Grove, CA7 mi
- Coronado, CA9 mi
- La Mesa, CA10 mi
- San Diego, CA13 mi
- Jamul, CA13 mi
- El Cajon, CA13 mi
- Santee, CA15 mi
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