NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Salinas, 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 Salinas, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 11 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 11
- 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 Salinas
The strongest of the 11 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F2 on March 11, 1985; its path came within 17 miles. Of the 11, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 4 have come since 2000. December has had the most tornadoes, 5. The most recent tornado was on January 6, 2016. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 55% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Salinas. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 4 times since 2017, with stones up to 0.25 inches. Salinas has more hail reports within 10 miles than 55% of the 705 California cities.
Compare Salinas's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Salinas
By decade
- 2010s2
- 2000s2
- 1990s3
- 1980s3
- 1960s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 11, 1985 | F2 | 17 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 20, 2001 | F1 | 20 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 6, 1992 | F1 | 15 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 6, 1992 | F1 | 12 mi | 7 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Apr 1, 1965 | F1 | 22 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 6, 2016 | EF0 | 22 mi | 0.61 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 22, 2012 | EF0 | 17 mi | 1.07 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 14, 2007 | EF0 | 21 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 11, 1992 | F0 | 7 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 3, 1987 | F0 | 5 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 3, 1986 | F0 | 24 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 11 of 11, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Salinas
The Storm Prediction Center has 4 hail reports within 10 miles of Salinas, all from January 20, 2017. None of them reached 1 inch. The largest was 0.25 inches.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Salinas
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Salinas Municipal Airport, CA, 3 miles southeast of Salinas at 74 feet. September is the warmest, with an average high of 74°F and low of 54°F; December is the coolest, at 62°F and 41°F. January is the wettest at 2.6 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 12.7 inches over 31 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 6 days a year, almost all from September to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 6 nights a year. That 12.7 inches is more than at 77 of the 226 California stations used on this site (34%). Castroville, 8 miles northwest, has its own station (Salinas #2, CA): 15.6 inches a year, 2.9 more than here, and a September average high of 75°F against 74°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Monterey, CA, 15 miles southwest, averaged 62°F in September and 55°F in March over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Monterey tide gauge, 15 miles from Salinas, has risen 0.70 ± 0.13 inches per decade from 1973 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 7.0 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 32 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 62 | 42 | 2.6 | 6 | 56 |
| Feb | 63 | 43 | 2.4 | 6 | 56 |
| Mar | 66 | 45 | 2.1 | 5 | 55 |
| Apr | 67 | 46 | 1.0 | 3 | 56 |
| May | 68 | 50 | 0.4 | 1 | 57 |
| Jun | 70 | 53 | 0.1 | 0 | 58 |
| Jul | 71 | 55 | 0.0 | 0 | 60 |
| Aug | 72 | 56 | 0.0 | 0 | 61 |
| Sep | 74 | 54 | 0.1 | 0 | 62 |
| Oct | 74 | 50 | 0.6 | 1 | 60 |
| Nov | 68 | 44 | 1.3 | 3 | 57 |
| Dec | 62 | 41 | 2.1 | 5 | 57 |
| Year | 68 | 48 | 12.7 | 31 | 58 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Salinas Municipal Airport, CA (74 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Monterey, 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 Salinas
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 66 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Salinas: 58 floods, 5 heavy rain events and 3 flash floods. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $2.8 million in property and crop damage.
March 24, 2011: flood 5 miles from the centre of Salinas — $2.5 million damage.
NWS: “There were 1279 acres of crops or croplands impacted by flooding from the Salinas River and its tributaries (1263 acres of Salinas River acreage and 16 acres from the tributaries).”
October 13, 2009: flood 3 miles from the centre of Salinas — $200,000 damage.
NWS: “The Pacific Coast Christian Academy and Little Lamb Preschool flooded after Little Bear Creek breached its banks. At least one foot of standing water remained in the school through the evening.”
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 Salinas's 5 ZIP codes have filed 150 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $1.8 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Pineapple Express - Southern in 1998: 52 claims (35% of all) and $376,000, then Flooding in 1995 with 28. 59% 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, 352 have fewer than Salinas.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Pineapple Express - Southern1998 | 52 | $376,000 |
| Flooding1995 | 28 | $389,000 |
Monterey County, which includes Salinas, has been named in 33 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1967, 23 of them major disasters (by incident: 8 floods, 8 severe storms, 7 fires, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storms, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, on April 13, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Monterey County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for inland flooding; Relatively Moderate for lightning and heat waves; Relatively Low for tornadoes and coastal flooding; Very Low for hail and strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $402.4 million a year, the 17th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $109.3 million (27%), 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 Salinas
- Castroville, CA8 mi
- Marina, CA9 mi
- San Juan Bautista, CA11 mi
- Seaside, CA12 mi
- Aromas, CA13 mi
- Monterey, CA16 mi
- Pacific Grove, CA17 mi
- Gonzales, CA17 mi
- Carmel Valley, CA17 mi
- Watsonville, CA17 mi
- Hollister, CA18 mi
- Freedom, CA18 mi
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