California is prone from
time-to-time to differents types of natural or
man-made
disasters... such as earthquakes, floods, mudslides and
brushfires.
But...the question
that many Californian's wonder about is why tropical storms or
hurricanes never move onshore in California?
There
are basically 2 reasons why Californian's don't have to worry
about being impacted by tropical systems.
- Both Atlantic and Pacific
tropical systems tend to move with the tradewinds toward the
west-northwest. These storms typically form off the coast of
central/southern Mexico and track west/northwest away
 from any shoreline. Occasionally the prevailing trade
winds will be blowing in a northwesterly direction and will
direct the tropical storm more in a north/northwesterly
direction.
When this
situation occurs... on average these storms will have an
impact on Baja California. During these types of pattern
develops...moisture from these tropical systems will
circulate into the southwestern United States and often
bring an increasing threat of thunderstorms and potential of
heavy rains...including at times...southern California.
- The other major reason is the
water
temperature is too cool
off the California coast to substain any tropical system.
Simply... tropical
 systems need warm water for fuel.
Tropical systems need water temperatures above 80
degrees fahrenheit to survive...and rarely water temperature
exceed 70 degrees fahrenheit along the coast of California.
The last time California took
a direct hit from a tropical storm was on September 25th,
1939.
The storm move inland near Long Beach and
killed 45 people. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 50
mph.
In September of 1997...Hurricane
"Linda" for a brief time threatened San Diego County...but
fizzled quickly before even coming close to the area.
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