NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit San Carlos, 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 San Carlos, 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 San Carlos
The highest rating among the 11 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2, reached 2 times; the most recent, on May 5, 1998, came within 16 miles. Of the 11, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and one has come since 2000. The most recent tornado was on March 20, 2005. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 55% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than San Carlos. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 8 times since 2017, with stones up to 0.25 inches. San Carlos has more hail reports within 10 miles than 82% of the 705 California cities.
Compare San Carlos's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of San Carlos
By decade
- 2000s1
- 1990s6
- 1980s2
- 1950s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 5, 1998 | F2 | 16 mi | 0.6 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jan 11, 1951 | F2 | 12 mi | 5.7 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 20, 2005 | F1 | 13 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 5, 1998 | F1 | 12 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jan 14, 1980 | F1 | 21 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Apr 1, 1958 | F1 | 10 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 7, 1998 | F0 | 9 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 6, 1998 | F0 | 16 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 8, 1997 | F0 | 24 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 17, 1992 | F0 | 17 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 10, 1986 | F0 | 14 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 San Carlos
The Storm Prediction Center has 8 hail reports within 10 miles of San Carlos since 2017. None of them reached 1 inch. The largest size, 0.25 inches, was reported on 8 days, most recently March 30, 2024. The most recent report is from March 30, 2024.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in San Carlos
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Redwood City, CA, 2 miles southeast of San Carlos at 31 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 81°F and low of 57°F; December is the coolest, at 59°F and 40°F. December is the wettest at 3.9 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 19.2 inches over 36 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 18 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 6 nights a year. That 19.2 inches is more than at 134 of the 226 California stations used on this site (59%). San Mateo, 5 miles northwest, has its own station (San Francisco International Airport, CA): 19.6 inches a year, 0.4 more than here, and a July average high of 73°F against 81°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Redwood City, CA, 3 miles east, 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, 3 miles from San Carlos, 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.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 59 | 41 | 3.8 | 7 | 54 |
| Feb | 62 | 43 | 3.7 | 7 | 55 |
| Mar | 65 | 45 | 3.0 | 7 | 58 |
| Apr | 69 | 47 | 1.2 | 3 | 62 |
| May | 73 | 50 | 0.5 | 1 | 67 |
| Jun | 79 | 54 | 0.2 | 1 | 70 |
| Jul | 81 | 57 | 0.0 | 0 | 73 |
| Aug | 81 | 57 | 0.0 | 0 | 74 |
| Sep | 79 | 54 | 0.1 | 0 | 73 |
| Oct | 75 | 50 | 0.9 | 2 | 69 |
| Nov | 65 | 44 | 1.9 | 3 | 60 |
| Dec | 59 | 40 | 3.9 | 6 | 55 |
| Year | 70 | 48 | 19.2 | 36 | 64 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Redwood City, CA (31 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Redwood City, 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 San Carlos
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 50 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of San Carlos: 37 floods, 5 flash floods, 3 heavy rain events, 3 thunderstorm wind reports and 2 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $20.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 69 mph, on October 19, 2004. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 163 have had fewer than San Carlos.
December 31, 2005: flood 5 miles from the centre of San Carlos — 1 killed, $7.0 million damage.
December 31, 2005: flood 5 miles from the centre of San Carlos — $5.0 million damage.
January 1, 2006: flood 5 miles from the centre of San Carlos — $5.0 million 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 San Carlos's ZIP code 94070 have filed 74 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $2.3 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1983: 21 claims (28% of all) and $66,000, then California Atmospheric River in 2022 with 15. The year with the most claims was 2022, with 13. 57% 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, 285 have fewer than San Carlos.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1983 | 21 | $66,000 |
| California Atmospheric River2022 | 15 | $2.1 million |
San Mateo County, which includes San Carlos, 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 San Carlos
- Belmont, CA2 mi
- Redwood City, CA2 mi
- Foster City, CA4 mi
- San Mateo, CA5 mi
- Atherton, CA5 mi
- Menlo Park, CA6 mi
- Burlingame, CA7 mi
- Stanford, CA7 mi
- Palo Alto, CA8 mi
- Portola Valley, CA9 mi
- Half Moon Bay, CA10 mi
- Millbrae, CA10 mi
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