Tornado events in San Bernardino County, California The tornado events on record, by date and by year

This page is a county record of past events and claims. It does not show the flood zone or the risk of an address. For the flood map of an address, use FEMA's address search (opens in a new tab).

NCEI has 33 tornado events on record for San Bernardino County, California, from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026.

The newest tornado event on record is on 16 Apr 2019.

From 2016 through 2025, NCEI has 2 tornado events on record for the county.

The NWS collects event reports from a variety of sources, which include (but are not limited to): county, state, and federal emergency management officials, local law enforcement officials, SKYWARN spotters, NWS damage surveys, newspaper clipping services, the insurance industry, and the general public, among others.
The National Weather Service reports property and crop damage estimates using available data at the time of event reporting. These values should therefore be considered broad estimates. Damage amounts are not adjusted for inflation.
The words of the agency. Source: NOAA NCEI, Storm Events Database, page "Frequently Asked Questions", copied on 2 Oct 2026.

Date of the data: NCEI storm events through 30 Jun 2026. Event types on this page: Tornado.

Newest tornado events on record

Apr 16 2019

TornadoEF0

12 miles WNW of SPANGLER. Damage estimate: $1 thousand

May 7 2017

TornadoEF0

3 miles N of ADELANTO

Jul 19 2015

TornadoEF0

2 miles N of LANDERS

Aug 18 2013

TornadoEF0

2 miles N of HELENDALE

Aug 4 2008

TornadoEF1

9 miles SE of LCRNE VLY SOGGY DRY. Damage estimate: $10 thousand

Mar 4 2005

TornadoF0

At FONTANA. Damage estimate: $20 thousand

Aug 14 2004

TornadoF0

14 miles NNW of YUCCA VLY

TornadoF0

At PHELAN

Jul 7 2001

TornadoF0

At JOSHUA TREE. Damage estimate: $10 thousand

Apr 21 2001

TornadoF1

9 miles N of (EED)NEEDLES ARPT

Aug 25 1998

TornadoF0

At NIPTON

Aug 7 1997

TornadoF0

16 miles S of NEEDLES

Jun 6 1997

TornadoF0

At HESPERIA

May 18 1997

TornadoF1

At APPLE VLY ARPT

TornadoF1

At APPLE VLY ARPT

May 11 1997

TornadoF1

At APPLE VLY

Mar 20 1991

TornadoF0

No place on record

Sep 29 1990

TornadoF0

No place on record

Aug 14 1990

TornadoF0

No place on record

Jul 27 1987

TornadoF0

No place on record

Jul 21 1986

TornadoF0

No place on record

Aug 1 1983

TornadoF0

No place on record. Damage estimate: $250 thousand

Sep 7 1982

TornadoF2

No place on record. Damage estimate: $25 thousand

Sep 6 1976

Tornado

No place on record

Tornado

No place on record

A place is the text of the NCEI record: a distance and a direction from a reference place. The site does not show a place text that names a private property or reads as a person. A tornado before February 2007 has a rating on the Fujita scale (F). A later tornado has a rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale (EF).

Tornado events by year

Tornado events on record for San Bernardino County by year, 1950 to 2026
Decade	Year that ends in 0	Year that ends in 1	Year that ends in 2	Year that ends in 3	Year that ends in 4	Year that ends in 5	Year that ends in 6	Year that ends in 7	Year that ends in 8	Year that ends in 9	All
1950s	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
1960s	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	2
1970s	0	0	0	0	1	0	6	0	0	0	7
1980s	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	4
1990s	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	5	1	0	9
2000s	0	2	0	0	2	1	0	0	1	0	6
2010s	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	4
2020s	0	0	0	0	0	0	0 (part of the year)				0

A darker cell has a larger count. The number is in each cell.

Tornado events are on record from 1950. The year 2026 has the events through 30 Jun 2026 only.

By month, all years

Jan0 events
Feb0 events
Mar2 events
Apr2 events
May4 events
Jun2 events
Jul5 events
Aug8 events
Sep8 events
Oct1 event
Nov1 event
Dec0 events

Magnitudes on record

Tornado events on record for San Bernardino County by rating
Rating	Wind estimate of the scale	Events
EF0 or F0	65 to 85 mph (EF0)	17
EF1 or F1	86 to 110 mph (EF1)	7
EF2 or F2	111 to 135 mph (EF2)	2
EF3 or F3	136 to 165 mph (EF3)	0
EF4 or F4	166 to 200 mph (EF4)	0
EF5 or F5	more than 200 mph (EF5)	0
Unrated	no rating on record	7

Tornadoes may contain multiple segments. A tornado that crosses a county line or state line is considered a separate segment.

The words of the agency. Source: NOAA NCEI, Storm Events Database, page "Frequently Asked Questions", copied on 2 Oct 2026.

The Enhanced F-scale still is a set of wind estimates (not measurements) based on damage.

The words of the agency. Source: NOAA NWS Storm Prediction Center, Enhanced Fujita Tornado Damage Scale, copied on 2 Oct 2026.

The wind estimates are those of the Enhanced Fujita scale.

Beside the other counties

Tornado events on record: San Bernardino County beside the total of the counties of California and of the United States
Measure	San Bernardino	All counties of California	All counties of the United States
Tornado events, 1950 to 2026	33	487	81,254
Events for each 100 square miles	0.2	0.3	2.3
Events for each 10,000 residents	0.2	0.1	2.4

The columns for the state and the United States total the counties. They count the events of each county in the same way as the county column. A forecast zone with another name than a county counts for the state only.

More tornado events on record

Tornado events on record for San Bernardino County, newest first, without the 25 newest events above
Date	Event type	Magnitude	Damage estimate	On record for
6 Sep 1976	Tornado	not recorded	none	County
6 Sep 1976	Tornado	not recorded	none	County
5 Sep 1976	Tornado	not recorded	none	County
4 Sep 1976	Tornado	not recorded	$25 thousand	County
22 Oct 1974	Tornado	F1	$3 thousand	County
22 Jul 1966	Tornado	not recorded	none	County
25 Nov 1965	Tornado	F1	$25 thousand	County
25 Jun 1954	Tornado	F2	$250	County

The table has all other events on record. A damage figure is an estimate in the NCEI record.

Official channels

NCEI Storm Events Database (opens in a new tab)Search the full NCEI record by state, county and date.
National Weather Service: San Diego, CA (opens in a new tab)The forecast office that issues the weather warnings for the county.
FEMA Flood Map Service Center: Search By Address (opens in a new tab)Search an address to see its flood map. This site has no flood-zone data.

These links open the pages of the agencies. The site checked the links on 2 Oct 2026.

Cite this page

County Hazards. "Tornado events on record for San Bernardino County, California". https://countyhazards.com/county/ca/san-bernardino/tornado/. Data: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database through 30 Jun 2026. Page made on 2 Oct 2026.

Questions

Which month has the most tornado events on record for San Bernardino County?: August has 8 of the 33 tornado events on record from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026.
How many tornado events are on record for California?: NCEI has 488 tornado events on record for California from 1950 through 30 Jun 2026. That count has every forecast zone of the state.
How does San Bernardino County compare with the other counties of California?: The counties of California have 0.3 tornado events for each 100 square miles. San Bernardino County has 0.2.
Which tornado ratings are on record for San Bernardino County?: 24 tornado events have a rating of EF0, F0, EF1 or F1. 2 events have a higher rating. 7 events have no rating.