List of California Hurricanes

List Of California Hurricanes

A California hurricane is a tropical cyclone that affects the state of California. Usually, only the remnants of tropical cyclones affect California. Since 1900, two tropical storms have hit California, one by direct landfall from offshore, another after making landfall in Mexico.

Since 1900, only four tropical cyclones have brought gale-force winds to the Southwestern United States. They are an unnamed tropical storm that made landfall near San Pedro in 1939, the remnants of Hurricane Joanne in 1972, the remnants of Hurricane Kathleen in 1976, and Hurricane Nora in 1997 which entered California as a tropical storm. In addition, a recently-discovered and reconstructed hurricane just missed making landfall in 1858.

In most cases, rainfall is the only effect that these cyclones have on California. Sometimes, this rainfall is severe enough to cause flooding and damage. For example, floods from Hurricane Kathleen devastated Ocotillo, California and killed several people. Precipitation other than rainfall is unusual in tropical cyclones because of their weak updrafts and lack of supercooled water.