NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit El Cerrito, 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 El Cerrito, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 8 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 8
- 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 El Cerrito
The highest rating among the 8 tornadoes within 25 miles is F1, reached 2 times; the most recent, on March 20, 2005, came within 20 miles. Of the 8, one had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 2 have come since 2000. The most recent tornado was on April 7, 2011. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 68% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than El Cerrito. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 9 times since 2017, with stones up to 0.25 inches. El Cerrito has more hail reports within 10 miles than 85% of the 705 California cities.
Compare El Cerrito's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of El Cerrito
By decade
- 2010s1
- 2000s1
- 1990s3
- 1980s2
- 1950s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 20, 2005 | F1 | 20 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 1, 1958 | F1 | 21 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 7, 2011 | EF0 | 25 mi | 0.11 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 5, 1998 | F0 | 3 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 12, 1998 | F0 | 25 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 17, 1992 | F0 | 15 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 18, 1989 | F0 | 15 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Sep 18, 1989 | F0 | 15 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 8 of 8, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in El Cerrito
The Storm Prediction Center has 9 hail reports within 10 miles of El Cerrito since 2017, made on 5 separate days. None of them reached 1 inch. The largest size, 0.25 inches, was reported on 4 days, most recently April 16, 2018. The most recent report is from January 16, 2020.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in El Cerrito
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Berkeley, CA, 4 miles southeast of El Cerrito at 310 feet. September is the warmest, with an average high of 76°F and low of 54°F; December is the coolest, at 59°F and 43°F. December is the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 26.0 inches over 45 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 6 days a year. Lows fall below freezing on about 1 nights a year. That 26.0 inches is more than at 171 of the 226 California stations used on this site (76%). Richmond, 3 miles northwest, has its own station (Richmond, CA): 24.5 inches a year, 1.5 less than here, and a September average high of 75°F against 76°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Richmond, CA, 5 miles west, averaged 66°F in August and September and 53°F in January over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Richmond tide gauge, 5 miles from El Cerrito, has risen 1.32 ± 0.29 inches per decade from 1979 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 13.2 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 78 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 59 | 43 | 4.8 | 8 | 53 |
| Feb | 62 | 45 | 5.1 | 8 | 54 |
| Mar | 65 | 46 | 3.8 | 7 | 55 |
| Apr | 67 | 47 | 1.8 | 5 | 58 |
| May | 70 | 49 | 0.8 | 2 | 60 |
| Jun | 74 | 52 | 0.3 | 1 | 62 |
| Jul | 74 | 53 | 0.0 | 0 | 65 |
| Aug | 75 | 54 | 0.1 | 0 | 66 |
| Sep | 76 | 54 | 0.1 | 0 | 66 |
| Oct | 73 | 52 | 1.2 | 2 | 63 |
| Nov | 65 | 47 | 2.7 | 5 | 59 |
| Dec | 59 | 43 | 5.3 | 8 | 54 |
| Year | 68 | 49 | 26.0 | 45 | 60 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Berkeley, CA (310 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Richmond, 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 El Cerrito
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 108 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of El Cerrito: 99 floods, 7 heavy rain events, 1 flash flood and 1 lightning strike. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $446,000 in property and crop damage.
December 2, 2012: flood 8 miles from the centre of El Cerrito — $250,000 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 El Cerrito's ZIP code 94530 have filed 31 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $193,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 39% 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, 159 have fewer than El Cerrito.
Contra Costa County, which includes El Cerrito, has been named in 21 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 16 of them major disasters (by incident: 8 floods, 6 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 2 coastal storms). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, on January 14, 2023. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Contra Costa County a Very High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for inland flooding; Relatively High for lightning and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for coastal flooding; Relatively Low for tornadoes and strong wind; Very Low for hail. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $970.5 million a year, the 8th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $412.5 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.