NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Costa Mesa, 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 Costa Mesa, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 44 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 44
- 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 Costa Mesa
The highest rating among the 44 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2, reached 3 times; the most recent, on November 9, 1982, came within 17 miles. Of the 44, 6 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 10 have come since 2000. January has had the most tornadoes, 10. The most recent tornado was on March 13, 2025. Costa Mesa has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 90% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 5 times since 1979, with stones up to 2 inches (hen egg size). Costa Mesa has more hail reports within 10 miles than 62% of the 705 California cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Costa Mesa
By decade
- 2020s3
- 2010s1
- 2000s6
- 1990s18
- 1980s7
- 1970s3
- 1960s5
- 1950s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 9, 1982 | F2 | 17 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | in town | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | 22 mi | 10.3 mi | 0 / 10 |
| Jan 19, 2010 | EF1 | 9 mi | 4.62 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 9, 1998 | F1 | 17 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Dec 21, 1997 | F1 | 5 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 11, 1997 | F1 | 6 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 14, 1993 | F1 | 15 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 7, 1992 | F1 | 12 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 7, 1992 | F1 | 8 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 27, 1991 | F1 | 4 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 16, 1986 | F1 | 12 mi | 1.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 44, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Costa Mesa
The Storm Prediction Center has 5 hail reports within 10 miles of Costa Mesa since 1979, made on 4 separate days. Of these, 4 were 1 inch across or larger, and one reached 2 inches. The largest, 2 inches (hen egg size), fell on January 31, 1979. The most recent report is from March 2, 2015.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Costa Mesa
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Santa Ana John Wayne Airport, CA, 3 miles northeast of Costa Mesa at 54 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 80°F and low of 67°F; December is the coolest, at 67°F and 48°F. Highs reach 90°F on about 13 days a year, almost all from August to November. A night below freezing comes less than once a year on average. That 11.0 inches is more than at 48 of the 226 California stations used on this site (21%). Newport Beach, 3 miles south, has its own station (Newport Beach Harbor, CA): 9.4 inches a year, 1.6 less than here, and an August average high of 73°F against 80°F.
Sea level at the Los Angeles tide gauge, 21 miles from Costa Mesa, 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" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 67 | 49 | 2.6 | 3 |
| Feb | 67 | 50 | 2.6 | 5 |
| Mar | 68 | 52 | 1.6 | 2 |
| Apr | 70 | 55 | 0.5 | 1 |
| May | 71 | 59 | 0.3 | 1 |
| Jun | 74 | 63 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Jul | 79 | 66 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Aug | 80 | 67 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Sep | 80 | 65 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Oct | 77 | 59 | 0.5 | 1 |
| Nov | 72 | 53 | 0.8 | 2 |
| Dec | 67 | 48 | 2.0 | 3 |
| Year | 73 | 57 | 11.0 | 19 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Santa Ana John Wayne Airport, CA (54 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 Costa Mesa
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 65 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Costa Mesa: 27 floods, 14 flash floods, 13 thunderstorm wind reports and 11 heavy rain events. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $946,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 93 mph, on January 19, 2010. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 363 have had fewer than Costa Mesa.
January 19, 2010: thunderstorm wind in Costa Mesa — $350,000 damage.
NWS: “As a line of thunderstorms moved through Orange County, a peak wind gust of 93 MPH was measured by the weather station at the Newport Beach Pier. Several wind gusts in excess of 70 MPH were also reported.”
March 5, 2000: thunderstorm wind 5 miles from the centre of Costa Mesa — $120,000 damage.
January 18, 2010: heavy rain event 5 miles from the centre of Costa Mesa — $100,000 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 Costa Mesa's 2 ZIP codes have filed 134 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $564,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1983: 39 claims (29% of all) and $70,000, then Pineapple Express - Southern in 1998 with 21. The year with the most claims was 1997, with 34. 46% 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, 344 have fewer than Costa Mesa.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1983 | 39 | $70,000 |
| Pineapple Express - Southern1998 | 21 | $84,000 |
Orange County, which includes Costa Mesa, has been named in 43 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 24 of them major disasters (by incident: 20 fires, 11 floods, 5 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on March 22, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Orange County a Very High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for inland flooding; Relatively High for coastal flooding and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for tornadoes, hail, strong wind and lightning. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $1.93 billion a year, the 5th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $819.9 million (43%), 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 Costa Mesa
- Newport Beach, CA3 mi
- Fountain Valley, CA4 mi
- Corona Del Mar, CA5 mi
- Huntington Beach, CA6 mi
- Newport Coast, CA6 mi
- Santa Ana, CA6 mi
- Midway City, CA7 mi
- Irvine, CA8 mi
- Westminster, CA8 mi
- Tustin, CA8 mi
- Garden Grove, CA8 mi
- Orange, CA11 mi
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