Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Palo Alto, CA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Palo Alto, CA, in Palo Alto at 25 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 79°F and low of 56°F; December is the coolest, at 58°F and 39°F. February is the wettest at 3.2 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 15.2 inches over 37 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 12 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 14 nights a year. That 15.2 inches is more than at 105 of the 226 California stations used on this site (46%). Atherton, 4 miles west, has its own station (Redwood City, CA): 19.2 inches a year, 4.0 more than here, and a July average high of 81°F against 79°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Redwood City, CA, 6 miles northwest, averaged 74°F in August and 54°F in January over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Redwood City tide gauge, 6 miles from Palo Alto, has risen 1.08 ± 0.25 inches per decade from 1974 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 10.8 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 62 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 59 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Palo Alto: 44 floods, 6 thunderstorm wind reports, 5 flash floods, 2 heavy rain events and 2 lightning strikes. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $3.3 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 75 mph, on December 24, 2025. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 163 have had fewer than Palo Alto.

Flood insurance policyholders in Palo Alto's 4 ZIP codes have filed 543 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $10.0 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Pineapple Express - Southern in 1998: 431 claims (79% of all) and $8.8 million, then Flooding in 1983 with 30 and California Atmospheric River in 2022 with 11. 87% 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, 400 have fewer than Palo Alto.