NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit San Luis Obispo, 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 Luis Obispo, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 4 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 4
- 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 Luis Obispo
The highest rating among the 4 tornadoes within 25 miles is EF1, reached 2 times; the most recent, on February 7, 2024, came within 5 miles. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 83% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than San Luis Obispo. Hail has been reported within 10 miles once, in 2001, with stones of 0.75 inches (penny size). Of the 705 California cities, 72% have more hail reports within 10 miles than San Luis Obispo.
Compare San Luis Obispo's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of San Luis Obispo
By decade
- 2020s2
- 2000s1
- 1990s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 7, 2024 | EF1 | 11 mi | 0.69 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 7, 2024 | EF1 | 5 mi | 4.87 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 2, 2004 | F0 | 12 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| May 5, 1998 | F0 | 1 mi | 0.3 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 4 of 4, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in San Luis Obispo
The Storm Prediction Center has one hail report within 10 miles of San Luis Obispo, from March 6, 2001: 0.75 inches (penny size).
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in San Luis Obispo
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is San Luis Obispo Poly, CA, 2 miles north of San Luis Obispo at 308 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 80°F and low of 55°F; December is the coolest, at 64°F and 44°F. January is the wettest at 5.1 inches of precipitation on average and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 22.5 inches over 33 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 19 days a year, almost all from May to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 3 nights a year. That 22.5 inches is more than at 155 of the 226 California stations used on this site (69%). Pismo Beach, 9 miles south, has its own station (Pismo Beach, CA): 18.0 inches a year, 4.5 less than here, and an August average high of 71°F against 80°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Port San Luis, CA, 10 miles southwest, averaged 61°F in September and 53°F in April over 2021–2025. No month averaged 80°F. Sea level at the Port San Luis tide gauge, 10 miles from San Luis Obispo, has risen 0.39 ± 0.06 inches per decade from 1945 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 3.9 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 22 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" | Water °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 65 | 44 | 5.1 | 7 | 56 |
| Feb | 65 | 44 | 4.9 | 7 | 55 |
| Mar | 67 | 46 | 3.9 | 5 | 54 |
| Apr | 69 | 47 | 1.4 | 3 | 53 |
| May | 72 | 49 | 0.5 | 1 | 55 |
| Jun | 76 | 52 | 0.1 | 0 | 57 |
| Jul | 78 | 54 | 0.1 | 0 | 59 |
| Aug | 80 | 55 | 0.0 | 0 | 60 |
| Sep | 80 | 54 | 0.1 | 0 | 61 |
| Oct | 78 | 52 | 0.8 | 2 | 59 |
| Nov | 71 | 47 | 2.0 | 3 | 57 |
| Dec | 64 | 44 | 3.6 | 5 | 57 |
| Year | 72 | 49 | 22.5 | 33 | 57 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at San Luis Obispo Poly, CA (308 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals; water temperature: average of hourly readings 2021–2025 at the NOAA tide station Port San Luis, 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 Luis Obispo
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 8 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of San Luis Obispo: 6 flash floods and 2 thunderstorm wind reports. They killed 1 person and injured 0. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 66 mph, on February 7, 2024. January has had the most flash floods, 5 of 6. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 202 have had fewer than San Luis Obispo.
January 9, 2023: flash flood 8 miles from the centre of San Luis Obispo — 1 killed.
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 Luis Obispo's 2 ZIP codes have filed 172 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $1.6 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Flooding in 1995: 83 claims (48% of all) and $551,000, then California Atmospheric River in 2023 with 31. 70% 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, 358 have fewer than San Luis Obispo.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1995 | 83 | $551,000 |
| California Atmospheric River2023 | 31 | $508,000 |
San Luis Obispo County, which includes San Luis Obispo, has been named in 28 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1967, 22 of them major disasters (by incident: 10 floods, 8 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies, 2 fires). The latest major disaster declaration was Severe Winter Storms, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides, on April 13, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives San Luis Obispo County a Relatively High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Relatively High for inland flooding; Relatively Low for coastal flooding, lightning and heat waves; Very Low for tornadoes, hail and strong wind. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $213.9 million a year, the 24th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $109.9 million (51%), 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 Luis Obispo
- Pismo Beach, CA9 mi
- Los Osos, CA11 mi
- Grover Beach, CA11 mi
- Arroyo Grande, CA12 mi
- Oceano, CA12 mi
- Morro Bay, CA13 mi
- Atascadero, CA14 mi
- Cayucos, CA19 mi
- Nipomo, CA19 mi
- Templeton, CA19 mi
- Guadalupe, CA22 mi
- Paso Robles, CA25 mi
All California cities →All hurricanes since 1851 →Compare San Luis Obispo with another place →