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| Rainfall Totals from Hurricane Kathleen- 1976 Courtesy of NASA |
Other Tropical Cyclones directly affected Southern California more recently, one of which is Hurricane Kathleen that entered the United States near the Salton Sea in 1976, as a Tropical Storm. It caused gale force winds and over 14 inches of rainfall were recorded in San Gorgonio, CA. Catastrophic flooding occurred in Ocotillo and in the Palm Desert, and over $160 million in damages occurred.
An even more recent Tropical Storm, Tropical Storm Nora made landfall near the California-Arizona Border in 1997, and caused over 11 inches of rainfall in Yuma, Arizona. Approximately, $150-200 million, in damages occurred.
Tropical Storms and Hurricanes rarely hit California due to the cold ocean temperatures and prevailing winds. But it is not impossible.
For more information, visit: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
Great information, thank you! Just wondering if there was any difference between hurricanes and typhoons? Is one stronger than the other or are they the same thing?
ReplyDeleteTN
There really isn't a substantial difference. Hurricanes occur in the North-eastern Pacific Ocean and the North-Western Atlantic Ocean. Typhoons occur in the North-Western Pacific Ocean. Almost everywhere else they are called cyclones. They, however are categorized differently. People in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the Northern Atlantic Ocean use the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale while other places use the RSMC Tokyo's Tropical Cyclone Intensity Scale, The India Meteorological Department Tropical Cyclone Intensity Scale, etc.
DeleteThere is much more info on the different tropical cyclone scales on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_cyclone_scales
Thank you!
ReplyDeleteTN