Why aren't there hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean near California?

Answer 1

Actually, the eastern North Pacific Ocean off Mexico and Central America is the second most active hurricane alley with nearly one quarter of the world's tropical storms. In a typical year, 17 tropical storms form there, compared to 9 or 10 in the Atlantic and Caribbean.

Despite all this storm activity, hurricanes rarely make it to the California coast for two reasons:

Prevailing winds tend to blow toward the west-northwest. In the Atlantic, this direction often brings storms toward the United States. In the Eastern Pacific, a west-northwest track takes hurricanes away from the California coast.
A second factor is water temperature. Along the Atlantic coast, the Gulf Stream provides warm deep water above 27°C to fuel hurricanes. Water currents off southern California are around 22EC, normally too cold to sustain tropical storms.
Any hurricane that does make it close to California, like Linda in September of 1997, fades quickly over the relatively cool waters, although its remains occasionally bring the region strong winds and flooding rains.

Answer 2

Looking at the answers here made by native Californians, I sometimes wish a Hurricane could blow through Cali and wash their sub-standard educational system into the sea., but it can't, I'll explain why.

California will never be affected by a typhoon because typhoons form only in the WESTERN Pacific, not all the Pacific. Storms are called Hurricanes when they are east of the international date line, and theoretically the Mediterranean(But not in actuality since there are no recorded instances of tropical cyclones striking the Mediterranean) Which means if a storm were to hit California, it would be a hurricane, not a typhoon.

And if that storm was to strike California, it would strike counterclockwise, like every other tropical system in the northern hemisphere. Typhoons don't rotate clockwise. It's impossible for them to rotate clockwise since typhoons are storms in the NORTHWEST Pacific ocean.

And you wouldn't be struck by a typhoon like monsoon anyways because a typhoon and a monsoon are 2 different storm types altogether. A monsoon is a weather system that is the reaction between warm land and colder water, causing rains when the cold ocean air reacts with the warmer land, causing rain to fall. Wind shear from that same monsoonal system would make that supposed "typhoon" (Which would really be a hurricane) would tear the "typhoon" apart. If you don't know what wind shear is, they're upper atmospheric winds.

They tend to tear the tops off of the thunderstorms that form hurricanes.

And a hurricane can't or rarely does strike California because California's waters are usually around 60-75 degrees. Far too cold to support a tropical system, or even a subtropical system (A freak Hurricane Vince type storm could occur though, but it's not likely in the Pacific basin.)

Hope this helps. And besides, California's going to get theirs soon because they sit on the San Andreas fault. Earthquakes are much more devastating than hurricanes anyways.

Answer 3

Hurricanes are triggered by warm ocean waters. The water in the Pacific near California is cold very cold. Global warming has more to do with the ocean temperatures. If you have ever been in the Ocean in the Caribbean then you know what warm is. The ocean is as warm as bath water. It feels like 85-90 degrees. This is what causes the Hurricane when the warm water and cold mix.

Answer 4

hurricanes in the pacific ocean are actually called typhoons =) and they rarely make it to california because of the water temperature. hurricane need warm water to keep their strength. all a hurricane/typhoon is is just an organized mass of thunderstorms centraled around a low pressure area. the lower the pressure it the stronger the storm. there have been cases of hurricanes making up to the coasts of san diego though =)

Answer 5

Cold upwellings off the Californian coast make the sea temperature much too cold for hurricanes to exist. Hurricanes need a sea temperature of 27 degrees celcius or higher to generate the huge thunderstorms that help feed them. Also, California is in the temperate zone and upper level wind patterns would quickly blow a hurricane apart.

Answer 6

i bet you are not from sunny california that is why you are wishing for us to get hit by a hurricane. or you are in california but wanted to experience the devastation that southern states catastrophically damaged by this events.

even we have a great weather, we do suffer calamities as well, earthquake, heat wave, congested freeway and worst traffic you have ever seen in most states so do not wish for anything like that for us to suffer.

plus our water temperature is warm cause we are near the cancer line. so the cold pressure that build a hurricane will lessen when it hit our water region. sometimes we saw those funnel clouds on the ocean but thank god it never reach the coast line.

also, we encounter monsoon season, like a typhoon type that we currently seen and heard from asean countries suffering right now. since we are envelop by the pacific ocean, we do suffer from heavy flooding and i think that is closed enough to be affected by natures wrath. do not wish for something like that to our lovely states...

Answer 7

I believe that it has to do with ocean temperature near the coast of California. The water is too cool. The warmer water currents flow off the coast of baja mexico and head west away from California. Hurricanes love warm water and feed off of them. Also, with the rotation of the earth, hurricanes go from east to west in the northern hemisphere until they run into cold fronts which knock them northward. California is protected due to it's geography in relation to the warmer waters off of mexico.

Answer 8

Hurricanes, typhoons and tornadoes require hot and cold winds to meet. California and the entire west coast of North America are hit solely by warm equatorial winds and water. Those winds go north to Alaska, then along Russia's coast and circle south, becoming cold and causing Japan's hurrincanes.

Answer 9

Hurricanes are caused by the rotation of the Earth, the Earth rotates from west to east, so hurricanes are basically staying in one spot while the Earth rotates. Then they would travel from east to west and that means hurricanes won't hit California.

Answer 10

Hurricanes fuel source is warm water, always found on the western tropical side of the basin, upwelling along the eastern edges due to the prevailing easterlies means cold water, no gas for the storm