NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Playa Del Rey, 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 Playa Del Rey, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 37 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 37
- 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 Playa Del Rey
The highest rating among the 37 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2, reached 5 times; the most recent, on March 1, 1983, came within 4 miles. Of the 37, 3 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 9 have come since 2000. The most recent tornado was on March 13, 2025. Playa Del Rey has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 86% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles once, in 1959, with stones of 1.25 inches (half dollar size). Of the 705 California cities, 72% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Playa Del Rey.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Playa Del Rey
By decade
- 2020s4
- 2010s2
- 2000s3
- 1990s8
- 1980s10
- 1970s3
- 1960s5
- 1950s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 1983 | F2 | 4 mi | 3.5 mi | 0 / 30 |
| Nov 9, 1982 | F2 | 19 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 9, 1982 | F2 | 15 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | 10 mi | 10.3 mi | 0 / 10 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | 9 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 22, 2023 | EF1 | 18 mi | 0.47 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jan 19, 2010 | EF1 | 25 mi | 4.62 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 9, 1998 | F1 | 20 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Mar 20, 1992 | F1 | 18 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Oct 1, 1983 | F1 | 6 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 3 |
| Nov 9, 1982 | F1 | 15 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 29, 1982 | F1 | 21 mi | 2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 37, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Playa Del Rey
The Storm Prediction Center has one hail report within 10 miles of Playa Del Rey, from February 11, 1959: 1.25 inches (half dollar size).
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Playa Del Rey
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Los Angeles International Airport, CA, 3 miles southeast of Playa Del Rey 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%). Marina Del Rey, 2 miles northwest, has its own station (Santa Monica Municipal Airport, CA): 13.5 inches a year, 1.3 more than here, and the same August average high, 77°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Santa Monica, CA, 5 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, 5 miles from Playa Del Rey, 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 | 66 | 49 | 2.9 | 4 | 58 |
| Feb | 66 | 50 | 3.0 | 5 | 58 |
| Mar | 66 | 52 | 1.7 | 3 | 58 |
| Apr | 68 | 54 | 0.6 | 1 | 59 |
| May | 70 | 58 | 0.3 | 1 | 62 |
| Jun | 72 | 61 | 0.1 | 0 | 66 |
| Jul | 75 | 64 | 0.0 | 0 | 68 |
| Aug | 77 | 65 | 0.0 | 0 | 69 |
| Sep | 77 | 64 | 0.1 | 0 | 69 |
| Oct | 74 | 60 | 0.5 | 1 | 65 |
| Nov | 71 | 54 | 0.8 | 2 | 62 |
| Dec | 66 | 49 | 2.2 | 4 | 60 |
| Year | 71 | 57 | 12.2 | 21 | 63 |
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.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Playa Del Rey
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 19 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Playa Del Rey: 10 flash floods, 6 thunderstorm wind reports, 2 floods and 1 lightning strike. They killed 1 person and injured 10. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 60 mph, on February 16, 2026. February has had the most flash floods, 4 of 10. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 285 have had fewer than Playa Del Rey.
July 27, 2014: lightning strike 3 miles from the centre of Playa Del Rey — 1 killed, 8 injured.
February 23, 2000: thunderstorm wind 10 miles from the centre of Playa Del Rey — 1 injured.
April 20, 2001: thunderstorm wind 7 miles from the centre of Playa Del Rey — 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 Playa Del Rey's ZIP code 90293 have filed 13 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1983, and were paid $36,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. 46% 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, 28 have fewer than Playa Del Rey.
Los Angeles County, which includes Playa Del Rey, 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 Playa Del Rey
- Marina Del Rey, CA2 mi
- Venice, CA3 mi
- El Segundo, CA3 mi
- Culver City, CA4 mi
- Manhattan Beach, CA5 mi
- Santa Monica, CA5 mi
- Inglewood, CA5 mi
- Hawthorne, CA6 mi
- Hermosa Beach, CA7 mi
- Lawndale, CA7 mi
- Redondo Beach, CA8 mi
- Pacific Palisades, CA8 mi
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