Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Watsonville, CA

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Watsonville Wtr Wks, CA, in Watsonville at 95 feet. September is the warmest, with an average high of 74°F and low of 53°F; December is the coolest, at 62°F and 39°F. February and December are the wettest at 4.5 inches of precipitation on average and July and August the driest at 0.0 inches; the year adds up to 22.7 inches over 39 days with at least a tenth of an inch. Highs reach 90°F on about 7 days a year, almost all from September to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 8 nights a year. That 22.7 inches is more than at 156 of the 226 California stations used on this site (69%). Freedom, under a mile northwest, has its own station (Watsonville Municipal Airport, CA): 22.4 inches a year, 0.3 less than here, and a September average high of 75°F against 74°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Monterey, CA, 23 miles south, 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, 23 miles from Watsonville, 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.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 39 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Watsonville: 30 floods, 6 flash floods, 2 heavy rain events and 1 thunderstorm wind report. They killed 2 people and injured 0, and the NWS estimated $3.2 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 75 mph, on March 2, 2024. December has had the most flash floods, 2 of 6. Of the 550 California cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 202 have had fewer than Watsonville.

Flood insurance policyholders in Watsonville's ZIP code 95076 have filed 562 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $20.4 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from California Atmospheric River in 2023: 261 claims (46% of all) and $16.6 million, then Flooding in 1995 with 151 and Pineapple Express - Southern in 1998 with 42. 81% 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, 401 have fewer than Watsonville.