Why doesn't California ever get hit with Hurricanes?

Question

We are right off the coast but I never here about them coming our direction? Just checking not that I want one just wondering why.
Thank you

Answer 1

It can happen, but never has.

There are two reasons why hurricanes do not strike California: sea surface temperatures, and the usual upper level steering winds in the eastern Pacific, with sea surface temperature being the most important.

Tropical cyclones usually require very warm water to depth, generally above 26.5 C (80 F) extending to a depth of 50 M (~150 feet).[1]

The waters off California are cold even in summer. They rarely rise above 24 C (75 F) in near-shore southern California,[2] and usually don't get above 17 C (63 F) along most of the rest of the coast and outer coastal waters, although El Niño events may warm the waters somewhat. This is due primarily to the extensive upwelling of colder sub-surface waters caused by the prevailing northwesterly winds acting through the Ekman Effect. The winds drive surface water to the right of the wind flow, that is offshore, which draws water up from below to replace it. The upwelling further cools the already cool California Current which runs north to south along coastal California and even much of coastal Baja California. This is the same mechanism which produces coastal California's characteristic fog.

The second reason is the general path of tropical cyclones in the eastern Pacific. They generally move north-westward or westward due to steering by the prevailing upper level winds, which takes them far out to sea and away from land. This makes eastern Pacific landfalls improbable north of about central Baja California. In those instances when upper level steering winds do allow a more northerly path, much cooler sea surface temperatures quickly dampen the convection required to sustain strong tropical winds, although torrential rainfall can still occur.

Answer 2

There's two reasons why hurricanes are rare in California. The first, and foremost, is that the water off the coast is just too damn cold. Even in 2014, where El Niño waters got so warm that yellowfin tuna and wahoos were being caught off our coast, the sea surface temperatures where they were caught were only in the upper 70's ― close, but no cigar. And even then, this year's reading of (if I recall correctly) 78°F was a record high. Even during the mother of all El Niño events that was 1997, the sea surface temperatures in California only reached 75°F.

With that being said, however, 78°F is dangerously close to the 80-degree threshold, and the fact that this record high was brought on by an El Niño that was only moderate in comparison to 1997-98 is enough to alarm anyone. Climate change, however, is definitely a factor: the warmer the planet gets, the warmer the global sea surface temperatures get, and whenever that heat gets released as an El Niño, it pushes closer and closer to the tipping point.

Even if it does get to that point, however, it would only be a narrow band. You'd need a hurricane that more or less hugs the coast along its whole track (like what Kathleen did in 1976, shifted maybe 5 miles to the west, which is precisely the track that the unnamed hurricanes of 1858 and 1939 took) for it to directly affect SoCal, and the reason for that is due to the fact that the cold California Current still passes to the west of that El Niño water. The result is a situation in which the waters can, even in the event that the 80-degree threshold is reached, end up being 80° off SoCal and at the same time only 60° a mere 300 miles to the west. Guess what happened to Hurricane Marie when it moved too far to the west? Yeah, that's right, the thunderstorms fizzled and the once category 5 hurricane was down to a remnant low within about 3 days.

That brings us to the next point: the trade winds. They blow from east to west. So, most, though not all, of the hurricanes that form off Mexico are forced away from land and out into the open ocean by them. Some may hit Hawaii, the way Iselle did, but that's also very rare. The only way you're going to have a hurricane move north is if the trade winds weaken. Weak trade winds are definitely something that El Niño is capable of causing, however, and that's another more or less double-whammy factor in increasing the odds of hurricanes hitting California as tropical storms or Category 1 monsters during El Niño events.

It should also, however, be noted that the 1858, 1939, and 1976 seasons both have something else in common besides El Niño: the fact that they were seasons not on the forming side of El Niño events, but rather during the years in which the respective El Niño events ― 1857-58, 1938-39, and 1975-76 ― began to decline. There's a reason for this: It's called the Davidson Current, a countercurrent to the California Current that only forms during the winter months. The reason is because, in the winter, less Alaskan ice melts (that glacial melt is what drives the California Current itself: it desalinates the water off Alaska, making it more buoyant and forcing it to upwell) and more freezes. When the timing of an El Niño is just right, where the Davidson Current is forming more or less synergistically with a Kelvin wave's propagation, the El Niño waters can "feed" the Davidson Current, strengthening it. The stronger-than-normal Davidson Current that sucks more tropical waters eastward, inducing more Kelvin waves and resulting in a sort of positive feedback loop. It becomes so powerful and pulls so much warmer-than-normal, saltier-than-normal water northward that upwelling is suppressed even into the summer months, and the result is sea surface temperature anomalies in excess of +15°F for prolonged portions during the respective hurricane seasons, and it wasn't until around November of the aforementioned years of 1858, 1939, and 1976 that the sea surface temperature anomalies began to turn around. Given that the Davidson Current typically reaches its peak intensity around late January and early February, which is the same time that the 2014-15 El Niño is also predicted to reach its peak, we'll just have to wait and see...

Answer 3

I think many of the people answering the question have it essentially right--the prevailing ocean currents are from the north, not the south, and there is upwelling along the west coast that keeps the ocean too cool normally for hurricanes. As some people have pointed out, it's not impossible--San Diego had a hurricane in 1858 and Imperial County may have had one in 1977 (NHC called it a depression, but if so it was the strongest tropical depression that you'd hope to see). But the ocean water temperature limits how bad they can be.

I would disagree with every person answering that claims that it's the steering currents that keep hurricanes away from California. That's just not true--go to any website that show historical tropical cyclone tracks and you'll see that there's many many storms that head north and then recurve toward the west coast. There are plenty of storms that follow the right trajectory, but they tend to dissipate over the cold water of the eastern Pacific. The few tropical storms that make it into California are usually moving very quickly, so they don't spend much time over cold water.

Answer 4

They Do......... Just not often.

The 1858 San Diego Hurricane was a very rare California hurricane. It is the only known tropical cyclone to impact California as a hurricane, although other systems impacted California as tropical storms.

In San Diego, the rain was very heavy, and the property damage was great, many homes lost their roofs, while a few homes even collapsed. In addition, trees were uprooted, and fences destroyed. A recently constructed windmill was also blown away completely. Three schooners, the Plutus, the Lovely Flora, and the X.L. were blown ashore, though only the X.L. suffered major damage.

El Monte was buffeted by high winds,and suffered damage to corn crops and trees. Los Angeles and Visalia noted large amounts of rain, as much as 7 inches, but low winds.

In an estimate by Dr. Michael Chenoweth and Dr. Christopher Landsea, if the storm would hit today, it would cause around $500 million dollars in damage.

There are two reasons why hurricanes do not strike California very often: sea surface temperatures, and the usual upper level steering winds in the eastern Pacific, with sea surface temperature being the most important.

Tropical cyclones usually require very warm water to depth, generally above 26.5 C (80 F) extending to a depth of 50 M (~150 feet).

..

Answer 5

Hurricanes do form in the Northeast Pacific basin, but tropical hurricanes almost never hit the West Coast. Scientific American gives two main reasons why.
In the Northern Hemisphere, tropical hurricanes almost always travel westwards along the tradewinds. As Slate's Explainer notes, these westerly tradewinds are created by the earth's easterly rotation.

The second reason has to do with ocean surface temperature. Hurricanes need warm water to form. Off the East Coast, the Gulf Stream warms waters to temperatures sometimes above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Along the Pacific Coast, the water is colder -- no higher than the lower 70s, even in summer.

This lower water temperature also acts as a retardant to any incoming hurricanes. So, California is protected by its cold water. You'd have to travel to the central Mexican coast to find water warm enough to sustain hurricanes.

Answer 6

Hurricanes In San Diego

Answer 7

Because for one - we have a cold water current, whereas Hurricanes thrive over warm water. The Gulf Stream (Carribean thru the N. Atlantic) is a warm water current which feeds these storms with energy from mass evaporated water. 2 - Cali is further away from the tropical zone than say Florida. The only Tropical Storm or Tropical Depression that hits usually comes from the Gulf Of California, when these storms occasionally enter from the southeast.

Answer 8

Hurricanes form in the tropics. They form in hot, humid weather. I think they are much more common in the Atlantic, but I'm not sure why. Then they drift north and west because of what's called the Coriolis effect (actually, it's because the earth turns from left to right beneath them).

So the Gulf Coast and South get hurricanes, we get earthquakes. I'll take earthquakes any day!

Answer 9

The same reason why Alaska does't have 100 degree weather. location, location, location. Hurricanes need warm water to get stronger and the water off the coast of cali isn't warm. But for us down here in the south east hurricanes are hell. Luckily I live inland in Atlanta so we mostly get tornadoes.

Answer 10

Well the Atlantic ocean is alot more turbulent than the Pacific and, the trade winds tend to push the hot air from south to north there....In the Pacific it tends to be alot more uniform in temp. so you get less storms.And the water around Cali is too cool you re too far north...That's the REALLY simplified version.. weather is very hard to explain