NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Seaside, 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 Seaside, California since records began in 1851. Since 1950, 7 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 0 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 0
- Tropical storms
- 0
- Tornadoes
- 7
- 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 Seaside
The highest rating among the 7 tornadoes within 25 miles is F1, reached 3 times; the most recent, on December 20, 2001, came within 25 miles. Of the 7, 2 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 2 have come since 2000. The most recent tornado was on December 22, 2012. Of the 705 California cities on this site, 72% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Seaside. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 12 times since 2001, with stones up to 1 inch (quarter size). Seaside has more hail reports within 10 miles than 91% of the 705 California cities.
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Tornadoes within 25 miles of Seaside
By decade
- 2010s1
- 2000s1
- 1990s3
- 1980s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 20, 2001 | F1 | 25 mi | 0.5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 6, 1992 | F1 | 3 mi | 1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 6, 1992 | F1 | in town | 7 mi | 0 / 2 |
| Dec 22, 2012 | EF0 | 18 mi | 1.07 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Dec 11, 1992 | F0 | 6 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 3, 1987 | F0 | 16 mi | 0.1 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Feb 3, 1986 | F0 | 25 mi | 0.2 mi | 0 / 0 |
The strongest 7 of 7, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Seaside
The Storm Prediction Center has 12 hail reports within 10 miles of Seaside since 2001, made on 9 separate days. Of these, one was 1 inch across or larger, and none reached 2 inches. The largest, 1 inch (quarter size), fell on January 20, 2010. The most recent report is from March 29, 2023. April has the most reports, 4.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Seaside
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Monterey WFO, CA, 2 miles southwest of Seaside at 122 feet. September is the warmest, with an average high of 68°F and low of 54°F; December is the coolest, at 58°F and 43°F. January and February are the wettest at 3.5 inches of precipitation on average and July the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 17.2 inches over 38 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 1 days a year. Lows fall below freezing on about 2 nights a year. That 17.2 inches is more than at 122 of the 226 California stations used on this site (54%). Monterey, 4 miles southwest, has its own station (Monterey, CA): 20.6 inches a year, 3.4 more than here, and a September average high of 71°F against 68°F.
Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Monterey, CA, 3 miles west, 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, 3 miles from Seaside, 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 | 59 | 43 | 3.5 | 7 | 56 |
| Feb | 60 | 44 | 3.5 | 7 | 56 |
| Mar | 61 | 46 | 2.9 | 6 | 55 |
| Apr | 62 | 47 | 1.2 | 4 | 56 |
| May | 63 | 50 | 0.5 | 1 | 57 |
| Jun | 65 | 52 | 0.1 | 0 | 58 |
| Jul | 66 | 54 | 0.0 | 0 | 60 |
| Aug | 67 | 55 | 0.1 | 0 | 61 |
| Sep | 68 | 54 | 0.1 | 0 | 62 |
| Oct | 67 | 51 | 0.8 | 2 | 60 |
| Nov | 63 | 46 | 1.6 | 5 | 57 |
| Dec | 58 | 43 | 2.9 | 6 | 57 |
| Year | 63 | 49 | 17.2 | 38 | 58 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Monterey WFO, CA (122 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 Seaside
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 27 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Seaside: 21 floods, 2 heavy rain events, 2 thunderstorm wind reports and 2 lightning strikes. They killed 1 person and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $2.6 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 78 mph, on December 14, 2024.
February 13, 2025: flood 9 miles from the centre of Seaside — 1 killed.
March 24, 2011: flood 9 miles from the centre of Seaside — $2.5 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
Monterey County, which includes Seaside, 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 Seaside
- Monterey, CA4 mi
- Marina, CA5 mi
- Pacific Grove, CA5 mi
- Pebble Beach, CA6 mi
- Carmel, CA7 mi
- Castroville, CA12 mi
- Salinas, CA12 mi
- Carmel Valley, CA14 mi
- Watsonville, CA21 mi
- Aromas, CA22 mi
- Freedom, CA22 mi
- San Juan Bautista, CA22 mi
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