NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Pacifica, 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 Pacifica, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 6 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 6
- 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 Pacifica
The highest rating among the 6 tornadoes within 25 miles is F1, reached 2 times; the most recent, on March 20, 2005, came within 4 miles. Of the 6, one had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and one has come since 2000. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 75% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Pacifica. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 7 times since 2017, with stones up to 0.5 inches (marble size). Pacifica has more hail reports within 10 miles than 76% of the 705 California cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Pacifica
By decade
- 2000s1
- 1990s3
- 1980s1
- 1950s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 20, 2005 | F1 | 4 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 1, 1958 | F1 | 7 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 5, 1998 | F0 | 23 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 7, 1998 | F0 | 10 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 17, 1992 | F0 | 20 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 10, 1986 | F0 | 7 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 6 of 6, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Pacifica
The Storm Prediction Center has 7 hail reports within 10 miles of Pacifica since 2017. None of them reached 1 inch. The largest, 0.5 inches (marble size), fell on November 29, 2018. The most recent report is from March 10, 2021.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Pacifica
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Pacifica 4 SSE, CA, 2 miles south of Pacifica at 475 feet. September is the warmest, with an average high of 72°F and low of 53°F; January is the coolest, at 58°F and 45°F. December is the wettest at 6.6 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 32.0 inches over 49 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 2 days a year. Lows fall below freezing on about 1 nights a year. That 32.0 inches is more than at 184 of the 226 California stations used on this site (81%). San Bruno, 3 miles east, has its own station (San Francisco International Airport, CA): 19.6 inches a year, 12.4 less than here, and a September average high of 75°F against 72°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Alameda, CA, 15 miles northeast, averaged 69°F in August and 53°F in January over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the San Francisco tide gauge, 13 miles from Pacifica, has risen 0.78 ± 0.03 inches per decade from 1897 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 7.8 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 37 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 58 | 45 | 6.1 | 9 | 53 |
| Feb | 60 | 46 | 6.5 | 10 | 54 |
| Mar | 61 | 46 | 4.5 | 7 | 57 |
| Apr | 64 | 48 | 2.4 | 4 | 61 |
| May | 67 | 49 | 1.0 | 3 | 64 |
| Jun | 69 | 51 | 0.3 | 1 | 67 |
| Jul | 69 | 52 | 0.0 | 0 | 68 |
| Aug | 71 | 53 | 0.1 | 0 | 69 |
| Sep | 72 | 53 | 0.1 | 1 | 69 |
| Oct | 70 | 52 | 1.5 | 2 | 65 |
| Nov | 64 | 50 | 2.9 | 5 | 59 |
| Dec | 59 | 46 | 6.6 | 8 | 54 |
| Year | 65 | 49 | 32.0 | 49 | 62 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Pacifica 4 SSE, CA (475 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Alameda, 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 Pacifica
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 90 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Pacifica: 62 floods, 12 thunderstorm wind reports, 6 heavy rain events, 6 lightning strikes and 4 flash floods. They killed 1 person and injured 8, and the NWS estimated $386,000 in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 97 mph, on December 14, 2024.
October 13, 2009: heavy rain event 4 miles from the centre of Pacifica — 1 killed, 3 injured.
March 14, 2012: heavy rain event 2 miles from the centre of Pacifica — 5 injured, $50,000 damage.
September 12, 2009: lightning strike 10 miles from the centre of Pacifica — $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 Pacifica's ZIP code 94044 have filed 122 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $1.1 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1982: 50 claims (41% of all) and $432,000, then Pineapple Express - Southern in 1998 with 22. 61% 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, 334 have fewer than Pacifica.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1982 | 50 | $432,000 |
| Pineapple Express - Southern1998 | 22 | $173,000 |
San Mateo County, which includes Pacifica, has been named in 24 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1977, 17 of them major disasters (by incident: 7 floods, 7 severe storms, 3 fires, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, on April 3, 2023. FEMA's National Risk Index gives San Mateo County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for inland flooding and coastal flooding; Relatively Moderate for lightning and heat waves; 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 $740.0 million a year, the 11th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $212.3 million (29%), 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 Pacifica
- San Bruno, CA3 mi
- South San Francisco, CA4 mi
- Millbrae, CA5 mi
- Daly City, CA5 mi
- Montara, CA5 mi
- Moss Beach, CA6 mi
- Brisbane, CA6 mi
- Burlingame, CA7 mi
- El Granada, CA7 mi
- Half Moon Bay, CA10 mi
- San Mateo, CA10 mi
- San Francisco, CA10 mi
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