NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Downey, 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 Downey, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 61 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 61
- 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 Downey
The highest rating among the 61 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2, reached 6 times; the most recent, on March 1, 1983, came within 14 miles. Of the 61, 4 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 15 have come since 2000. January has had the most tornadoes, 12. The most recent tornado was on March 13, 2025. Downey has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 98% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 4 times since 2000, with stones up to 1 inch (quarter size). Downey has more hail reports within 10 miles than 55% of the 705 California cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Downey
By decade
- 2020s5
- 2010s2
- 2000s8
- 1990s17
- 1980s13
- 1970s6
- 1960s8
- 1950s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 1983 | F2 | 14 mi | 3.5 mi | 0 / 30 |
| Nov 9, 1982 | F2 | 6 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 9, 1982 | F2 | 25 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | 23 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | 3 mi | 10.3 mi | 0 / 10 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | 10 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 22, 2023 | EF1 | 4 mi | 0.47 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jan 19, 2010 | EF1 | 15 mi | 4.62 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 9, 1998 | F1 | 11 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Dec 21, 1997 | F1 | 20 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 14, 1993 | F1 | 11 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 7, 1992 | F1 | 14 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 61, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Downey
The Storm Prediction Center has 4 hail reports within 10 miles of Downey since 2000, made on 3 separate days. Of these, 2 were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest, 1 inch (quarter size), fell on March 15, 2024, the most recent report.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Downey
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Long Beach Daugherty Field, CA, 9 miles south of Downey at 31 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 83°F and low of 66°F; December is the coolest, at 67°F and 47°F. February is the wettest at 3.0 inches of precipitation on average and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 12.3 inches over 20 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 23 days a year, almost all from May to November. A night below freezing comes less than once a year on average. That 12.3 inches is more than at 69 of the 226 California stations used on this site (31%). Bell Gardens, 3 miles northwest, has its own station (Los Angeles Dwtn Usc Campus, CA): 14.2 inches a year, 1.9 more than here, and an August average high of 84°F against 83°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Santa Monica, CA, 22 miles west, averaged 69°F in August and 58°F in January and March over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Los Angeles tide gauge, 17 miles from Downey, 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" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 67 | 47 | 2.9 | 4 | 58 |
| Feb | 67 | 48 | 3.0 | 5 | 58 |
| Mar | 69 | 51 | 1.7 | 3 | 58 |
| Apr | 71 | 54 | 0.6 | 1 | 59 |
| May | 73 | 58 | 0.3 | 1 | 62 |
| Jun | 76 | 61 | 0.1 | 0 | 66 |
| Jul | 81 | 65 | 0.1 | 0 | 68 |
| Aug | 83 | 66 | 0.0 | 0 | 69 |
| Sep | 82 | 64 | 0.1 | 0 | 69 |
| Oct | 78 | 59 | 0.5 | 1 | 65 |
| Nov | 73 | 52 | 0.8 | 2 | 62 |
| Dec | 67 | 47 | 2.2 | 3 | 60 |
| Year | 74 | 56 | 12.3 | 20 | 63 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Long Beach Daugherty Field, CA (31 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Santa Monica, 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 Downey
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 33 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Downey: 13 thunderstorm wind reports, 9 flash floods, 5 floods, 5 heavy rain events and 1 lightning strike. They killed 1 person and injured 1, and the NWS estimated $3.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on April 18, 2000. February has had the most flash floods, 4 of 9. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 263 have had fewer than Downey.
June 22, 2022: lightning strike 4 miles from the centre of Downey — 1 killed.
March 1, 2023: thunderstorm wind 3 miles from the centre of Downey — 1 injured.
January 19, 2010: flash flood 9 miles from the centre of Downey — $3.2 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 Downey's 3 ZIP codes have filed 20 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1980, and were paid $506,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 30% 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, 90 have fewer than Downey.
Los Angeles County, which includes Downey, has been named in 88 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 35 of them major disasters (by incident: 61 fires, 10 floods, 8 severe storms, 3 earthquakes). The latest major disaster declaration was Wildfires and Straight-Line Winds, on January 8, 2025. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Los Angeles County a Very High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for inland flooding and lightning; Relatively High for tornadoes, coastal flooding and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for hail and strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $7.60 billion a year, the highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $2.81 billion (37%), 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 Downey
- Paramount, CA3 mi
- Bell Gardens, CA3 mi
- Bellflower, CA3 mi
- Norwalk, CA4 mi
- South Gate, CA4 mi
- Santa Fe Springs, CA4 mi
- Lynwood, CA4 mi
- Commerce, CA4 mi
- Pico Rivera, CA4 mi
- Maywood, CA5 mi
- Montebello, CA5 mi
- Huntington Park, CA6 mi
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