NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Los Alamitos, 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 Los Alamitos, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 59 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 59
- 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 Los Alamitos
The highest rating among the 59 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2, reached 5 times; the most recent, on March 1, 1983, came within 21 miles. Of the 59, 2 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 15 have come since 2000. January has had the most tornadoes, 11. The most recent tornado was on March 13, 2025. Los Alamitos has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 97% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 2 times since 2000, with stones up to 0.75 inches (penny size). Of the 705 California cities, 57% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Los Alamitos.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Los Alamitos
By decade
- 2020s5
- 2010s2
- 2000s8
- 1990s19
- 1980s11
- 1970s4
- 1960s8
- 1950s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 1983 | F2 | 21 mi | 3.5 mi | 0 / 30 |
| Nov 9, 1982 | F2 | 4 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | 13 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | 9 mi | 10.3 mi | 0 / 10 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | 15 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 22, 2023 | EF1 | 14 mi | 0.47 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jan 19, 2010 | EF1 | 5 mi | 4.62 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 9, 1998 | F1 | 6 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Dec 21, 1997 | F1 | 10 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 11, 1997 | F1 | 17 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 14, 1993 | F1 | 9 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 7, 1992 | F1 | 9 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 59, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Los Alamitos
The Storm Prediction Center has 2 hail reports within 10 miles of Los Alamitos since 2000. None of them reached 1 inch. The largest size, 0.75 inches (penny size), was reported on 2 days, most recently February 19, 2005. The most recent report is from February 19, 2005.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Los Alamitos
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Long Beach Daugherty Field, CA, 4 miles west of Los Alamitos 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%). Cypress, 2 miles northeast, has its own station (Fullerton Municipal Airport, CA): 11.8 inches a year, 0.5 less than here, and an August average high of 87°F against 83°F.
Sea level at the Los Angeles tide gauge, 13 miles from Los Alamitos, 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 | 47 | 2.9 | 4 |
| Feb | 67 | 48 | 3.0 | 5 |
| Mar | 69 | 51 | 1.7 | 3 |
| Apr | 71 | 54 | 0.6 | 1 |
| May | 73 | 58 | 0.3 | 1 |
| Jun | 76 | 61 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Jul | 81 | 65 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Aug | 83 | 66 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Sep | 82 | 64 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Oct | 78 | 59 | 0.5 | 1 |
| Nov | 73 | 52 | 0.8 | 2 |
| Dec | 67 | 47 | 2.2 | 3 |
| Year | 74 | 56 | 12.3 | 20 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Long Beach Daugherty Field, CA (31 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 Los Alamitos
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 62 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Los Alamitos: 18 floods, 16 heavy rain events, 15 flash floods and 13 thunderstorm wind reports. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $3.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 100 mph, on April 18, 2000. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 381 have had fewer than Los Alamitos.
January 19, 2010: flash flood 9 miles from the centre of Los Alamitos — $3.2 million damage.
December 6, 1998: thunderstorm wind 4 miles from the centre of Los Alamitos — $450,000 damage.
March 5, 2000: thunderstorm wind 10 miles from the centre of Los Alamitos — $120,000 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 Los Alamitos's ZIP code 90720 have filed 11 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $28,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 36% 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, 12 have fewer than Los Alamitos.
Orange County, which includes Los Alamitos, 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 Los Alamitos
- Hawaiian Gardens, CA2 mi
- Cypress, CA2 mi
- Seal Beach, CA2 mi
- La Palma, CA4 mi
- Stanton, CA4 mi
- Lakewood, CA4 mi
- Artesia, CA5 mi
- Cerritos, CA5 mi
- Westminster, CA5 mi
- Signal Hill, CA6 mi
- Long Beach, CA6 mi
- Buena Park, CA6 mi
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