NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Santa Ynez, 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 Santa Ynez, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 5 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 5
- 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 Santa Ynez
The strongest of the 5 tornadoes within 25 miles was an F1 on January 3, 1977; its path came within 20 miles. Of the 5, none had a path within 5 miles of the city centre, and 2 have come since 2000. The most recent tornado was on January 19, 2010. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 79% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Santa Ynez.
Compare Santa Ynez's storm record with another city →
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Santa Ynez
By decade
- 2010s1
- 2000s1
- 1990s2
- 1970s1
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 3, 1977 | F1 | 20 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 19, 2010 | EF0 | 18 mi | 0.14 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 29, 2006 | F0 | 22 mi | — | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 24, 1994 | F0 | 25 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 29, 1991 | F0 | 13 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 2 |
The strongest 5 of 5, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Santa Ynez
The Storm Prediction Center has no hail reports within 10 miles of Santa Ynez since 1955.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Santa Ynez
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Cachuma Lake, CA, 6 miles southeast of Santa Ynez at 789 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 93°F and low of 49°F; December is the coolest, at 67°F and 33°F. February is the wettest at 5.3 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 21.1 inches over 28 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 86 days a year, almost all from April to November. Lows fall below freezing on about 19 nights a year. That 21.1 inches is more than at 149 of the 226 California stations used on this site (66%). Goleta, 14 miles southeast, has its own station (Santa Barbara Municipal Airport, CA): 17.2 inches a year, 3.9 less than here, and an August average high of 75°F against 93°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 67 | 34 | 4.9 | 6 |
| Feb | 68 | 35 | 5.3 | 6 |
| Mar | 71 | 38 | 3.6 | 4 |
| Apr | 76 | 39 | 1.3 | 2 |
| May | 80 | 43 | 0.5 | 1 |
| Jun | 86 | 45 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Jul | 92 | 48 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Aug | 93 | 49 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Sep | 91 | 47 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Oct | 84 | 43 | 0.8 | 1 |
| Nov | 75 | 38 | 1.2 | 2 |
| Dec | 67 | 33 | 3.3 | 4 |
| Year | 79 | 41 | 21.1 | 28 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Cachuma Lake, CA (789 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. 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 Santa Ynez
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 5 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Santa Ynez: 3 thunderstorm wind reports and 2 flash floods. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 64 mph, on October 14, 2025.
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 Santa Ynez's ZIP code 93460 have filed 25 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1991, and were paid $120,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Pineapple Express - Southern in 1998: 14 claims (56% of all) and $90,000. 64% 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, 125 have fewer than Santa Ynez.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Pineapple Express - Southern1998 | 14 | $90,000 |
Santa Barbara County, which includes Santa Ynez, has been named in 43 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 27 of them major disasters (by incident: 15 fires, 13 floods, 7 severe storms, 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 Santa Barbara 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 $477.3 million a year, the 14th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $166.8 million (35%), 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 Santa Ynez
- Solvang, CA4 mi
- Buellton, CA8 mi
- Goleta, CA14 mi
- Lompoc, CA22 mi
- Santa Barbara, CA23 mi
- Vandenberg Afb, CA28 mi
- Santa Maria, CA28 mi
- Carpinteria, CA35 mi
- Nipomo, CA37 mi
- Guadalupe, CA37 mi
- Arroyo Grande, CA44 mi
- Oceano, CA45 mi
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