Hurricanes in San Diego?

[bubba]

I know San Diego was hit with a Cat 1 in October of 1858. Have their been any more recent experiences in Coastal California or Gulf of California that effect California or Arizona?Any research on the greater propensity as things seem to continue to warm up?

[epicure3]

(bubba @ Sep. 05 2007,09:48)

QUOTE

I know San Diego was hit with a Cat 1 in October of 1858. Have their been any more recent experiences in Coastal California or Gulf of California that effect California or Arizona?Any research on the greater propensity as things seem to continue to warm up?

That was the only hurricane to hit San Diego....so far (at least as far as records have been kept). But your question got me digging and I came up with this from the NWS San Diego office.

SEPTEMBER IS NORMALLY THE HEIGHT OF THE HURRICANE SEASON IN THE

EASTERN PACIFIC AND IS THE MONTH THAT DISSIPATING MAJOR TROPICAL

STORMS HAVE COME THROUGH SAN DIEGO.  THREE OF THE LAST FIVE TROPICAL

STORMS THAT CAME THROUGH SAN DIEGO OCCURRED IN SEPTEMBER WITH TWO

OF THEM IN AUGUST... TROPICAL STORM DOREEN...AUGUST 16 AND 17...

1977...TROPICAL STORM KATHLEEN...SEPTEMBER 9-12...1976...TROPICAL

STORM HYACINTH...SEPTEMBER 3-6...1972...TROPICAL STORM KATRINA...

AUGUST 31...1967 AND TROPICAL STORM KATHERINE...SEPTEMBER 17-19...1963

NORA SEPTEMBER 24-25...1997.

DURING A DISSIPATING TROPICAL STORM THAT ENTERED THE SOUTHERN CALIF-

ORNIA COAST AT SAN PEDRO...CALLED THE TEHACHAPI STORM OF SEPTEMBER 30...

1932...SAN DIEGO WINDS ATTAINED A SPEED OF 41 MILES PER HOUR THE RECORD

FOR THE MONTH

The water temps are usually too cold for hurricanes to keep together here. We usually top out at about 75F in the summer.

[NBTX11]

Interestingly, if SD were just a couple hundred miles further south down the Baja Cal peninsula, they would be much more prone to hurricanes and tropical storms.  Many hurricanes have hit the peninsula.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki....ricanes

Also found this from wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_California_hurricanes

Pre 1930

October 2, 1858: The 1858 San Diego Hurricane approached very close to southern California. It brought several hours of hurricane and gale-force winds[3] to an area stretching from San Diego to Los Angeles. This storm is reconstructed as just missing making landfall,[3] dissipating offshore.

July 20-July 21, 1902: The remnants of a hurricane brought rain to southern California.

August 18-August 19, 1906: A cyclone moved north from the Gulf of California and brought rain to southern California.

September 15, 1910: The remnants of a hurricane brought rain to Santa Barbara County.

August 26, 1915: The remnants of a tropical cyclone brought around an inch of rain to Riverside.

September 11-September 12, 1918: The remnants of a cyclone produced half a foot of rain to the mountains of southern California.

August 20-August 21, 1921: A cyclone moved north from Lower California and into Arizona, producing rain.

September 30, 1921: The remnants of a cyclone moved from Baja California and brought rain to Arizona and parts of California.

September 18, 1929: A cyclone in the Pacific Ocean generated rain in Southern California.

[edit] 1930s

September 28-October 1, 1932: The remnants of a hurricane brought four days of rain. Flash floods killed 15 people.[4]

August 25, 1935: A cyclone moved from the south and brought rain to southern California and parts of Arizona.

August 9, 1936: A hurricane's remnants moving north brought heavy rains to the Los Angeles area.

September 4-September 7, 1939: The remnants of a hurricane brought over a year's worth of rain to parts of southern California.

September 11-September 12, 1939: The remnants of a hurricane in the Gulf of California brought rain.

September 19-September 21, 1939: A dissipated cyclone brought rain.

September 25, 1939: The 1939 Long Beach Tropical Storm made landfall near Long Beach. Winds were near 80 km/h (50 mph) and rain was near a foot. 45 people were killed. This is the only known landfall by a cyclone at tropical storm strength.

[edit] 1940s

September 1941: Moisture from a hurricane caused rain.

September 9-September 10, 1945: A dissipated cyclone moved north and brought rain to southern California.

September 30-October 1, 1946: The remnants of a tropical storm brought several inches of rain.

[edit] 1950s

August 27-August 29, 1951: The remnants of a tropical cyclone brought enough rain to wash out some roads in Southern California.

September 19-September 21, 1952: The remnants of a hurricane brought rain to mountains in Southern California.

July 17-July 19, 1954: The remnants of a hurricane moved into Arizona, bringing rain to the state and parts of California.

October 1-October 6, 1958: The remnants of a hurricane moved into Arizona, causing heavy rain.

September 11, 1959: The remnants of a hurricane generated some rain.

[edit] 1960s

September 9-September 10, 1960: The remnants of Hurricane Estelle generated rain.

September 17-September 19, 1963: Tropical Storm Katherine dissipated over northern Baja California and caused several inches of rain.

September 4-September 5, 1965: Hurricane Emily's remnants brought rainfall.

September 30-October 1, 1971: Atlantic Hurricane Irene crossed Central America and became Hurricane Olivia. Olivia eventually recurved and made landfall in Baja California, with the remnants bringing rain to California.[4]

September 3, 1972: Tropical Depression Hyacinth made landfall and produced rain around Los Angeles.

October 6, 1972: Hurricane Joanne made landfall in Mexico and managed to bring gale-force winds to Arizona and rain to that state and California.

September 10-September 11, 1976 : Hurricane Kathleen crossed the peninsula of Baja California moved into California as a tropical storm. Yuma, Arizona reported sustained winds of 91 km/h (57 mph).[4] Rains from Kathleen caused catastrophic damage to Ocotillo, California and killed at least three people.

August 18-August 19, 1977: Hurricane Doreen dissipated off the coast of California. The remnants moved inland and caused flooding and crop damage as 7.01" of rain fell on Yuma Valley, Arizona.[5]

October 6-October 7, 1977: Hurricane Heather's remnants moved into Arizona, bringing 8.30" of rain to Nogales, Arizona and up to 14 inches of rainfall to the adjacent mountains. This led to significant flooding.[6]

September 5-September 6, 1978: The remnants of Hurricane Norman produced several inches of rain.

[edit] 1980s

June 29-June 30, 1980: Hurricane Celia's remnants produced a minor amount of rain.

September 17-September 18, 1982: Remnants from Hurricane Norman generated rain in Arizona and Southern California.

September 24-September 26, 1982: The remnants of Hurricane Olivia produced inches of rain in California.

September 20-September 21, 1983: The remnants of Hurricane Manuel caused rain.

October 7, 1983: The very weak remnants of Hurricane Priscilla caused showers in Southern California.

September 10-September 11, 1984: Hurricane Marie's weak remnants generated showers.

October 5-October 12, 1987: Weather associated with Hurricane Ramon caused moderate to heavy rains in southern California. The highest amount noted was 2.14 inches at Camp Pendleton.[7]

September, 1989: Hurricane Octave's remnants brought rain to California, doing minimal damage.

[edit] 1990s

June, 1990: The remnants of Hurricane Boris caused briefly heavy rainfall in southern California. This was one of the reasons that it was the wettest June in San Diego since record-keeping began in 1850.[8] Less than an inch of rain fell in most locations.[9]

July, 1992: Cloudiness associated with the remnants of Darby caused showers in California. These clouds were also enough to delay the landing of the Space Shuttle Columbia for a day.

August 19-August 20, 1997: Tropical Storm Ignacio's remnants produced gusty winds over the outer waters of California, and passed directly over the San Francisco Bay Area, and then across the interior of the Pacific Northwest. Sporadic moderate to heavy rainfall was recorded.[10]

September 13-September 14, 1997: Hurricane Linda was at one point forecasted to make landfall in California.[11] Instead, it moved out to sea.

September 25-September 26, 1997: After making landfall in Baja California, Hurricane Nora maintained tropical storm status into California and Arizona. Moderate to heavy rains fell across southeast California and Arizona, with a new 24-hour maximum for Arizona falling in the Mogollon Rim; 305 mm/12.01". Damage totaled several hundred million,[12] including US$40 million to lemon trees. The remnants of the hurricane flattened trees in higher elevations of Utah as the circulation aloft was slower to spin down than its remnant surface low. There were a few indirect deaths caused by the hurricane.[12]

[edit] 2000s

September 2000: The remnant low from Hurricane Lane made landfall in California with minimal effects.

September 2001: The remnants of Hurricane Flossie dissipated over the deserts of the Southwest United States and caused minor damage.

September 30, 2001: Thunderstorms from the remnants of Hurricane Juliette caused minor damage to California and brought rain of less than an inch to the area.[5]

September 2006: Remnants of Hurricane John triggered flash flood watches.[13]

[Dave-Vero]

In the summer of 1997 a Pacific hurricane threatened California and there were predictions that increased hurricane frequency and intensity could spell disaster, that monsoons would hit northern California, etcetera.

              For the most part, such talk was unwarranted. First of all, monsoons are not hurricanes, they are periods of significant seasonal change in tropical weather and wind direction. All major continents are affected by monsoons, and they may be stronger or weaker in association with El Niño. However, a hurricane in California is only remotely possible, even during an El Niño. The possibility that California could get hit by a major hurricane is very small, especially during the period that El Niño is expected to produce its strongest impacts (California's winter).

Why is the idea of a California hurricane so implausible?

The ocean temperatures off California – including during a strong El Niño – are so cold that they would grind down a hurricane to nothing more that a strong, rainy windstorm. Historical statistics indicate that a major California hurricane is no more likely in an El Niño year than in a normal year. Such an event has never occurred since hurricane records began, so we can only guess that such a thing might happen once in a millennium or so.

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/general/enso_faq/

[Dave-Vero]

But a Google search for "1858 hurricane" came up with this:

publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releases2005/jan05

Chris Landsea's project to reassess historical information has come up with some real surprises, including this one.

[bubba]

Thank you Jim and Dave. Very interesting information.

[Palmy]