NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Seal Beach, 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 Seal Beach, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 59 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 59
- 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 Seal Beach
The highest rating among the 59 tornadoes within 25 miles is F2, reached 5 times; the most recent, on March 1, 1983, came within 23 miles. Of the 59, 2 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 15 have come since 2000. January has had the most tornadoes, 11. The most recent tornado was on March 13, 2025. Seal Beach has more tornadoes within 25 miles than 97% of the 705 California cities on this site. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 2 times since 1979, with stones up to 1.25 inches (half dollar size). Of the 705 California cities, 57% have more hail reports within 10 miles than Seal Beach.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Seal Beach
By decade
- 2020s5
- 2010s2
- 2000s8
- 1990s19
- 1980s10
- 1970s4
- 1960s8
- 1950s3
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 1983 | F2 | 23 mi | 3.5 mi | 0 / 30 |
| Nov 9, 1982 | F2 | 5 mi | 10 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | 12 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | 11 mi | 10.3 mi | 0 / 10 |
| Nov 7, 1966 | F2 | 16 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Mar 22, 2023 | EF1 | 17 mi | 0.47 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Jan 19, 2010 | EF1 | 2 mi | 4.62 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 9, 1998 | F1 | 5 mi | 1.5 mi | 0 / 1 |
| Dec 21, 1997 | F1 | 8 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Nov 11, 1997 | F1 | 16 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Jan 14, 1993 | F1 | 11 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 7, 1992 | F1 | 11 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 12 of 59, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Seal Beach
The Storm Prediction Center has 2 hail reports within 10 miles of Seal Beach since 1979. Of these, one was 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest, 1.25 inches (half dollar size), fell on January 31, 1979. The most recent report is from March 2, 2015.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Seal Beach
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Long Beach Daugherty Field, CA, 5 miles northwest of Seal Beach at 31 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 83°F and low of 66°F; December is the coolest, at 67°F and 47°F. February is the wettest at 3.0 inches of precipitation on average and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 12.3 inches over 20 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 23 days a year, almost all from May to November. A night below freezing comes less than once a year on average. That 12.3 inches is more than at 69 of the 226 California stations used on this site (31%). Cypress, 5 miles northeast, has its own station (Fullerton Municipal Airport, CA): 11.8 inches a year, 0.5 less than here, and an August average high of 87°F against 83°F.
Sea level at the Los Angeles tide gauge, 11 miles from Seal Beach, has risen 0.42 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1923 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 4.2 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 24 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 67 | 47 | 2.9 | 4 |
| Feb | 67 | 48 | 3.0 | 5 |
| Mar | 69 | 51 | 1.7 | 3 |
| Apr | 71 | 54 | 0.6 | 1 |
| May | 73 | 58 | 0.3 | 1 |
| Jun | 76 | 61 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Jul | 81 | 65 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Aug | 83 | 66 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Sep | 82 | 64 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Oct | 78 | 59 | 0.5 | 1 |
| Nov | 73 | 52 | 0.8 | 2 |
| Dec | 67 | 47 | 2.2 | 3 |
| Year | 74 | 56 | 12.3 | 20 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Long Beach Daugherty Field, CA (31 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 Seal Beach
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 58 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Seal Beach: 16 floods, 16 heavy rain events, 15 flash floods and 11 thunderstorm wind reports. None is recorded as killing or injuring anyone; the NWS estimated $3.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on April 18, 2000. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 381 have had fewer than Seal Beach.
January 19, 2010: flash flood 10 miles from the centre of Seal Beach — $3.2 million damage.
December 6, 1998: thunderstorm wind 2 miles from the centre of Seal Beach — $450,000 damage.
March 5, 2000: thunderstorm wind 8 miles from the centre of Seal Beach — $120,000 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 Seal Beach's ZIP code 90740 have filed 112 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: 42 claims (38% of all) and $347,000, then Pineapple Express - Southern in 1998 with 12. 53% 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, 329 have fewer than Seal Beach.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding1995 | 42 | $347,000 |
| Pineapple Express - Southern1998 | 12 | $41,000 |
Orange County, which includes Seal Beach, has been named in 43 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1969, 24 of them major disasters (by incident: 20 fires, 11 floods, 5 severe storms, 2 biological emergencies). The latest major disaster declaration was Covid-19 Pandemic, on March 22, 2020. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Orange County a Very High rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for inland flooding; Relatively High for coastal flooding and heat waves; Relatively Moderate for tornadoes, hail, strong wind and lightning. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $1.93 billion a year, the 5th highest of 58 California counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $819.9 million (43%), 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 Seal Beach
- Los Alamitos, CA2 mi
- Cypress, CA5 mi
- Hawaiian Gardens, CA5 mi
- Westminster, CA5 mi
- Midway City, CA6 mi
- Signal Hill, CA6 mi
- Stanton, CA6 mi
- Long Beach, CA6 mi
- Huntington Beach, CA6 mi
- Lakewood, CA6 mi
- La Palma, CA7 mi
- Garden Grove, CA7 mi
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