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NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database

Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Hermosa Beach, 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 Hermosa Beach, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 38 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.

Hurricanes
0

within 75 mi, since 1851

Tropical storms
0

below hurricane strength

Tornadoes
38

within 25 mi, since 1950

EF3 or stronger
0

no recorded deaths

What the records show for Hermosa Beach

The highest rating among the 38 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2, reached 5 times; the most recent, on March 1, 1983, came within 8 miles. Of the 38, 4 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 10 have come since 2000. March has had the most tornadoes, 8. The most recent tornado was on March 13, 2025. Hermosa Beach has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 87% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 3 times since 1959, with stones up to 1.5 inches (ping pong ball size). Of the 705 California cities, 44% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Hermosa Beach.

Compare Hermosa Beach's storm record with another city →

Tornadoes within 25 miles of Hermosa Beach

By decade

  • 2020s5
  • 2010s2
  • 2000s3
  • 1990s7
  • 1980s10
  • 1970s4
  • 1960s5
  • 1950s2
Strongest tornadoes near Hermosa Beach, California
DateRatingDistancePathKilled / injured
Mar 1, 1983F28 mi3.5 mi0 / 30
Nov 9, 1982F213 mi10 mi0 / 0
Nov 9, 1982F222 mi1 mi0 / 0
Nov 7, 1966F24 mi10.3 mi0 / 10
Nov 7, 1966F26 mi0.1 mi0 / 0
Mar 22, 2023EF118 mi0.47 mi0 / 1
Jan 19, 2010EF119 mi4.62 mi0 / 0
Jan 9, 1998F114 mi1.5 mi0 / 1
Dec 7, 1992F124 mi0.1 mi0 / 0
Mar 20, 1992F121 mi0.2 mi0 / 0
Oct 1, 1983F15 mi0.3 mi0 / 3
Nov 9, 1982F120 mi0.2 mi0 / 0

The strongest 12 of 38, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.

Hail in Hermosa Beach

The Storm Prediction Center has 3 hail reports within 10 miles of Hermosa Beach since 1959, made on 2 separate days. All were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest, 1.5 inches (ping pong ball size), fell on January 31, 1979, the most recent report.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.

Radar-estimated hail days in Hermosa Beach since 2019 →

Weather by month in Hermosa Beach

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Los Angeles International Airport, CA, 5 miles north of Hermosa Beach at 97 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 77°F and low of 65°F; December is the coolest, at 66°F and 49°F. February is the wettest at 3.0 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 12.2 inches over 21 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 5 days a year, almost all from October. A night below freezing comes less than once a year on average. That 12.2 inches is more than at 67 of the 226 California stations used on this site (30%). Redondo Beach, 2 miles southeast, has its own station (Torrance Airport, CA): 13.8 inches a year, 1.6 more than here, and an August average high of 78°F against 77°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Santa Monica, CA, 11 miles northwest, averaged 69°F in August and 58°F in January and March over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Santa Monica tide gauge, 11 miles from Hermosa Beach, has risen 0.60 ± 0.06 inches per decade from 1933 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 6.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 28 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Monthly climate normals 1991–2020 at Los Angeles International Airport, CA
MonthHigh °FLow °FPrecip. inDays ≥ 0.1"Water °F
Jan66492.9458
Feb66503.0558
Mar66521.7358
Apr68540.6159
May70580.3162
Jun72610.1066
Jul75640.0068
Aug77650.0069
Sep77640.1069
Oct74600.5165
Nov71540.8262
Dec66492.2460
Year715712.22163

Averages for 1991–2020 at Los Angeles International Airport, CA (97 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.

California weather by month, station by station →

Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Hermosa Beach

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 9 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Hermosa Beach: 6 flash floods, 2 thunderstorm wind reports and 1 lightning strike. They killed 1 person and injured 9. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 58 mph, on April 20, 2001. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 202 have had fewer than Hermosa Beach.

  • July 27, 2014: lightning strike 9 miles from the centre of Hermosa Beach — 1 killed, 8 injured.

  • April 20, 2001: thunderstorm wind 9 miles from the centre of Hermosa Beach — 1 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 Hermosa Beach's ZIP code 90254 have filed 10 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1995, and were paid $10,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 40% 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, 0 have fewer than Hermosa Beach.

Los Angeles County, which includes Hermosa Beach, 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 Hermosa Beach