TORNADOES MAP · HISTORICAL ARCHIVE
California Tornado History & Map
Explore California tornado records from 1950–2025: touchdown counts, monthly distribution, F/EF ratings, and selected tracks.
486 tornado records with touchdown in California during 1950–2025.
Recorded dates in this selection run from Jan 11, 1951 to Apr 1, 2025. The archive has entries in 72 of 76 covered calendar years. 2005 has the largest annual count, with 30 records.
Open this selection on the map ↗- Single-track records
- 486
- Tracks affecting more than one state
- 1
- Unrated records
- 6
- Records without a start position
- 0
When were California tornadoes recorded?
March has the largest pooled count, with 86 records across the archive. This pools all covered years; individual dates can strongly influence the total. It is not a forecast or an adjusted monthly average.
- January57
- February69
- March86
- April59
- May41
- June13
- July17
- August21
- September24
- October19
- November33
- December47
Recorded tornadoes by archive month. Counts include records with missing coordinates or ratings. Source: NOAA SPC single-track archive.
Recorded damage ratings
F labels remain on earlier records and EF labels on records from February 1, 2007 onward. Unrated means unavailable, not EF0. Read the rating definitions.
| Rating number | F records | EF records |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 229 | 93 |
| 1 | 104 | 28 |
| 2 | 21 | 3 |
| 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Unrated | 6 | |
Recent years in California
| Year | Records | Explore |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 4 | Map for 2025 |
| 2024 | 4 | Map for 2024 |
| 2023 | 10 | Map for 2023 |
| 2022 | 4 | Map for 2022 |
| 2021 | 4 | Map for 2021 |
Selected records to explore
5 rated records, ordered by rating number, then most recent date and archive ID. These are examples to inspect, not a ranking of financial loss, measured winds, or casualties.
| Date | Touchdown | Rating | Length (mi) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 9, 1978 | California | F3 | 2 |
| Aug 16, 1973 | California | F3 | 0.1 |
| Sep 5, 2020 | California | EF2 | 12.02 |
| May 25, 2011 | California | EF2 | 0.21 |
| May 22, 2008 | California | EF2 | 2.8 |
How to interpret this page
These are whole tracks selected by their recorded touchdown area, not all tornadoes that affected that area. The linked map also includes tracks recorded as ending in or crossing the selected state, so its count may be higher. A border-crossing track's rating and dimensions describe the whole event and may reflect conditions beyond that border. Earlier reporting was less complete, especially for weaker tornadoes.
Source: NOAA SPC 1950–2025 single-track CSV. Latest event date: 2025-12-28. Processing and limitations explain missing values, approximate track lines, and why monetary losses are not totaled here.
Continue exploring
Browse every state, district, and territory →
Adjacent entries in the alphabetical directory.