NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Pasadena, 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 Pasadena, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 40 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 40
- 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 Pasadena
The highest rating among the 40 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2, reached 5 times; the most recent, on March 1, 1983, came within 15 miles. Of the 40, 2 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. Pasadena has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 88% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 6 times since 1994, with stones up to 1.25 inches (half dollar size). Pasadena has more hail reports within 10 miles than 69% of the 705 California cities.
Compare Pasadena's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Pasadena
By decade
- 2020s5
- 2010s1
- 2000s4
- 1990s8
- 1980s10
- 1970s4
- 1960s6
- 1950s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 1983 | F2 | 15 mi | 3.5 mi | 0 / 30 |
| Nov 9, 1982 | F2 | 20 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 9, 1982 | F2 | 19 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | 18 mi | 10.3 mi | 0 / 10 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | 20 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 22, 2023 | EF1 | 11 mi | 0.47 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jan 14, 1993 | F1 | 22 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 20, 1992 | F1 | 5 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 1, 1983 | F1 | 21 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 3 |
| Mar 29, 1982 | F1 | 5 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 31, 1979 | F1 | 14 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 16, 1977 | F1 | 22 mi | 10.9 mi | 0 / 4 |
The strongest 12 of 40, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Pasadena
The Storm Prediction Center has 6 hail reports within 10 miles of Pasadena since 1994, made on 5 separate days. Of these, 2 were 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest, 1.25 inches (half dollar size), fell on October 17, 2005. The most recent report is from March 24, 2024.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Pasadena
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Pasadena, CA, 1 mile southwest of Pasadena at 864 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 63°F; December is the coolest, at 67°F and 45°F. February is the wettest at 5.2 inches of precipitation on average and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 20.0 inches over 26 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 74 days a year, almost all from April to November. A night below freezing comes less than once a year on average. That 20.0 inches is more than at 140 of the 226 California stations used on this site (62%). San Gabriel, 4 miles southeast, has its own station (San Gabriel Fire Dept, CA): 15.5 inches a year, 4.5 less than here, and an August average high of 88°F against 91°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Santa Monica, CA, 24 miles southwest, 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, 24 miles from Pasadena, 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.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 68 | 46 | 4.5 | 5 | 58 |
| Feb | 69 | 46 | 5.2 | 6 | 58 |
| Mar | 73 | 48 | 3.0 | 4 | 58 |
| Apr | 76 | 51 | 1.1 | 2 | 59 |
| May | 78 | 54 | 0.5 | 1 | 62 |
| Jun | 84 | 58 | 0.2 | 0 | 66 |
| Jul | 89 | 62 | 0.1 | 0 | 68 |
| Aug | 91 | 63 | 0.0 | 0 | 69 |
| Sep | 90 | 62 | 0.2 | 0 | 69 |
| Oct | 83 | 56 | 0.8 | 1 | 65 |
| Nov | 75 | 50 | 1.1 | 2 | 62 |
| Dec | 67 | 45 | 3.3 | 4 | 60 |
| Year | 79 | 53 | 20.0 | 26 | 63 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Pasadena, CA (864 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.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Pasadena
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 24 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Pasadena: 16 flash floods, 7 thunderstorm wind reports and 1 flood. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 78 mph, on February 18, 2026. February has had the most flash floods, 8 of 16. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 400 have had fewer than Pasadena.
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 Pasadena's 5 ZIP codes have filed 71 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $193,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1980: 20 claims (28% of all) and $51,000. 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, 282 have fewer than Pasadena.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1980 | 20 | $51,000 |
Los Angeles County, which includes Pasadena, 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.