1991 tornadoes in California

16 tornadoes touched down in California in 1991, 137 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1990 1992 The whole country in 1991

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 mph
Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.
F3158 to 206 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5261 to 318 mph
Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.
Unrated
The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Every tornado in California in 1991

February 28 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 28	2:45 PM PST	F0	Orange	0.5	50
February 28	6:15 PM PST	F1	Tulare	0.2	10		1	$50,000 to $500,000

March 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 17	9:30 PM PST	F1	Kern	0.1	40			$50,000 to $500,000

March 19 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 19	2:00 AM PST	F0	Los Angeles	0.5	50
March 19	4:30 AM PST	F1	San Diego	1.0	440			$50,000 to $500,000

March 20 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
March 20	11:30 AM PST	F0	Riverside	0.2	10
March 20	12:45 PM PST	F0	San Bernardino	1.0	50
March 20	2:30 PM PST	F0	Madera	0.1	10

March 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 25	2:20 PM PST	F0	Kern	0.2	10

March 26 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
March 26	2:07 PM PST	F0	Kern	0.1	10
March 26	5:15 PM PST	F0	San Joaquin	0.1	10
March 26	5:40 PM PST	F0	Merced	0.1	10

March 27 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 27	10:35 PM PST	F1	Orange	3.0	53
March 27	2:00 AM PST	F1	San Diego	0.2	10

October 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 12	1:15 AM PDT	F0	Kings	0.1	10

December 29 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 29	12:00 PM PST	F0	Santa Barbara	0.1	10		2	$50 to $500

Nearby

Every tornado in California since 1950 Warnings in force in California The live radar over California

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.