Why do hurricanes only happen on the eastern seaboard?

Question

Hurricanes happen in the southeastern U.S. and the Caribbean. Why don't hurricanes happen on the western coast? Thanks in advance for your answers.

Thanks all for your info. I guess I have a lot to learn about weather patterns.

Answer 1

Mine is not to ponder why...
I'm glad for the Easten hurricanes, I'd trade them for Earthquakes any day!

Answer 2

Hurricanes do happen on the west coast. Hurricane Paul is in the Eastern Pacific, which is the west coast. I think that, as long as the hurricane is in the Eastern Pacific, it's called a hurricane but if it's in the Western Pacific, like near Japan, it's a typhoon. It's the same thing, just different names.

Answer 3

I asked my mom and my science teacher the same thing, they said the east coast gets hurricanes because the warmth in thenocean. The atlantic is warmer, so it builds more pressure.

No the west coast DOES NOT get huuricanes, they get typhoons, and tital waves.
The saint barbra winds have to do with it.
The winds comming off the mountians are a very cold DRY wind, it pushes the humidity back into the ocean, this in effect is what stops the hurricane pressure from building up, and it is also why the east coast is MORE humid than the west.

Answer 4

Some hurricanes do come up from the Pacific. But it is rare. The winds always have came from the West. The warmer Atlantic Ocean is a breeding ground for the storms.

Answer 5

hurricane and hurricane are merely distinctive names for a similar component: a good tropical cyclone. Cyclonic storms are people who've without delay rotating winds around a center, usually originating over heat water. tornado is a nickname for tornado, it extremely is an fairly small cyclonic typhoon that originates out of a close-by thunderstorm. the enormous distinction between tropical cyclones and tornadoes: ability. a good tropical cyclone operates on the equivalent ability of a 10 Megaton nuclear bomb going off each and every 20 minutes! And those cyclones can exists for hundreds of hours! A tornado, which many times exists for purely a couple of minutes at maximum, would not even incorporate as much as .00000001% of the flexibility as hurricanes like Katrina or Ike.

Answer 6

Hurricanes originate over by Africa, and travel across the Atlantic Ocean--it's certain wind patterns and that type of things. I have heard of rare occurences from the Pacific, but not as often as on the East.

Answer 7

Because on the other side of the world Pacific hurricanes are called typhoons.
"hurricane" (the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean east of the dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean east of 160E)
"typhoon" (the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of the dateline)
"severe tropical cyclone" (the Southwest Pacific Ocean west of 160E or Southeast Indian Ocean east of 90E)
"severe cyclonic storm" (the North Indian Ocean)
"tropical cyclone" (the Southwest Indian Ocean)

Answer 8

I just saw on TV that hurricane Paul hit the west coast of Mexico, although it had weakened to tropical storm intensity.

Answer 9

Clashing of currents and fronts. El Nino and so on. Hurricanes aren't only on the east. They are referred to as typhoons in other areas. They are common in the east because of the tropical waters.

Answer 10

The water is too cold and the "Steering winds" in the pacific tend to move them away from the U.S. west coast.

Answer 11

They happen in the West also.. they are called Typhoons. The reason the travel west most times is do to Earths rotation/ Jet streams.