Santa Rosa Beach, FL Tornado History — 115 Tornadoes Since 1950
How many tornadoes has Santa Rosa Beach, FL had?
Santa Rosa Beach has had 115 tornadoes on record within 25 miles since 1950, including 2 violent (EF3+) tornadoes.
When was the most recent tornado near Santa Rosa Beach?
The most recent tornado within 25 miles of Santa Rosa Beach was an EF1 on May 10, 2025.
When is tornado season in Santa Rosa Beach?
September is historically the peak month for tornadoes near Santa Rosa Beach, with 20 on record. Spring through early summer (April–June) generally sees the highest activity across most of the central and southern United States.
At a Glance
Recent Tornado Activity Near Santa Rosa Beach
The last 20 years of confirmed tornadoes within 25 miles — 37 total, averaging 1.9 per year over this window.
Preliminary tornado reports near Santa Rosa Beach since December 29, 2025
These are 2 preliminary reports, not confirmed tornadoes. They have not yet been through an NWS damage survey, and are not counted in the confirmed totals above.
Preliminary reports are revised, merged, and sometimes withdrawn — historically about 23% are consolidated downward once surveys complete. Ratings are omitted until a survey assigns one.
Confirmed records above are complete through December 29, 2025. NOAA publishes the confirmed archive annually, so tornadoes after that date appear here first and move into the totals above once finalized.
Within 25 miles of Santa Rosa Beach. Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center preliminary storm reports, updated daily.
Tornadoes by Decade
Tornadoes by Enhanced Fujita Rating
F0–F5 ratings (pre-2007) are grouped with their EF equivalents. The Enhanced Fujita scale replaced the original Fujita scale in February 2007.
Tornadoes by Month
Casualties on Record Near Santa Rosa Beach
1 fatality has been recorded within 25 miles of Santa Rosa Beach since 1950, across 1 event. 97 injuries have been reported across all events. 1967 was the deadliest year on record.
The deadliest single event was a F2 on December 10, 1967, which caused 1 fatality along a 6.8-mile track.
Notable Tornadoes Near Santa Rosa Beach
About Tornadoes in Santa Rosa Beach
This overview was written August 10, 2026. The tornado counts and notable-event figures elsewhere on this page reflect the latest data and may differ from this summary.
Along the northern Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Panhandle occupies a meeting ground where humid marine air rides ashore into cold fronts sweeping off the continent, a collision that makes this coastline notably prone to cool-season tornadoes. Santa Rosa Beach, set among the dunes and coastal lakes of Walton County, offers flat, low-lying terrain that gives storms an unobstructed run inland, while waterspouts born over warm Gulf water can cross the shoreline and continue as tornadoes.
That vulnerability shows plainly in the local history. On December 10, 1967, an F2 tornado roughly a thousand yards wide struck the area, killing one person and injuring fifty. An F3 arrived on Christmas Day of 1964, injuring four people along a track nearly thirteen miles long. The pattern continues into the modern era: an EF2 hit on January 22, 2023, and on May 10, 2025, an EF1 carved a path of about eight miles through the county.
Seasonally, the threat here runs opposite the Great Plains: the jet stream dips south in the cooler months, dragging sharp fronts across a Gulf that stays warm enough to feed rotating storms, while landfalling tropical systems add their own spin-up risk. The NOAA Storm Prediction Center is the source of the record behind this page, and the event list and decade breakdown elsewhere on the page draw on that live data for the area around Santa Rosa Beach.