Hail events in Santa Cruz County, California The hail 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 21 hail events on record for Santa Cruz County, California, from 1955 through 30 Jun 2026.
The newest hail event on record is on 29 Mar 2023.
From 2016 through 2025, NCEI has 15 hail 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 .
Date of the data: NCEI storm events through . Event types on this page: Hail.
Newest hail events on record
Hail0.25 in, pea size
At SCOTTS VLY. Damage estimate: $10
Hail0.25 in, pea size
At SCOTTS VLY
Hail0.25 in, pea size
At APTOS
Hail0.25 in, pea size
2 miles SW of CAPITOLA
Hail0.25 in, pea size
At SANTA CRUZ
Hail0.25 in, pea size
At SCOTTS VLY
Hail0.25 in, pea size
1 mile SW of BEN LOMOND
Hail0.25 in, pea size
5 miles N of CORRALITOS
Hail0.25 in, pea size
5 miles NE of RIVERSIDE GROVE
Hail0.25 in, pea size
1 mile ENE of SCOTTS VLY
Hail0.25 in, pea size
At SCOTTS VLY
Hail0.25 in, pea size
At FELTON
Hail0.25 in, pea size
5 miles N of WATSONVILLE
Hail0.25 in, pea size
1 mile WSW of SANTA CRUZ. Damage estimate: $20
Hail0.25 in, pea size
1 mile NNE of SANTA CRUZ. Damage estimate: $5.0 million
Hail1.00 in, quarter size
3 miles N of CORRALITOS
Hail0.75 in, penny size
At LIVE OAK
Hail0.75 in, penny size
7 miles NW of BOULDER CREEK
Hail1.00 in, quarter size
2 miles NE of WATSONVILLE
Hail0.75 in, penny size
2 miles N of WATSONVILLE MUNI ARP. Damage estimate: $100 thousand
Hail1.75 in, golf ball size
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. Hail size is in inches, with the object that NCEI names for that size.
Hail events by year
| 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 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1960s | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1970s | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1980s | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1990s | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2000s | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 2010s | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 9 |
| 2020s | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 (part of the year) | 7 |
A darker cell has a larger count. The number is in each cell.
Hail events are on record from 1955. The year 2026 has the events through 30 Jun 2026 only.
By month, all years
- Jan6 events
- Feb1 event
- Mar8 events
- Apr2 events
- May0 events
- Jun0 events
- Jul0 events
- Aug0 events
- Sep1 event
- Oct1 event
- Nov0 events
- Dec2 events
Magnitudes on record
| Hail size | Size in words | Events |
|---|---|---|
| under 1 in | pea to quarter | 18 |
| 1 to 1.74 in | quarter to golf ball | 2 |
| 1.75 to 2.74 in | golf ball to baseball | 1 |
| 2.75 to 3.99 in | baseball to softball | 0 |
| 4 in and larger | softball and larger | 0 |
When listing hail size under Magnitude, e.g., 2.25 in., the hail size is given in inches and hundredths of inches. These values are assigned a size in inches from their appearance.
An event without a size in the record is not in this table.
Beside the other counties
| Measure | Santa Cruz | All counties of California | All counties of the United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hail events, 1955 to 2026 | 21 | 934 | 423,723 |
| Events for each 100 square miles | 4.7 | 0.6 | 12.0 |
| Events for each 10,000 residents | 0.8 | 0.2 | 12.8 |
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.
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 Francisco Bay Area, 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 .
Cite this page
County Hazards. "Hail events on record for Santa Cruz County, California". https://countyhazards.com/county/ca/santa-cruz/hail/. Data: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database through 30 Jun 2026. Page made on .
Questions
- Which month has the most hail events on record for Santa Cruz County?
- March has 8 of the 21 hail events on record from 1955 through 30 Jun 2026.
- How many hail events are on record for California?
- NCEI has 936 hail events on record for California from 1955 through 30 Jun 2026. That count has every forecast zone of the state.
- How does Santa Cruz County compare with the other counties of California?
- The counties of California have 0.6 hail events for each 100 square miles. Santa Cruz County has 4.7.
- How large is the hail on record for Santa Cruz County?
- 1 hail event has a size of 1.75 inches or more. NCEI names 1.75 inches a golf ball.