Tropical Cyclones That Affected Southern California in the 20th Century
Data compiled by former NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard forecasters Greg Martin and Bob Burke
The following list contains information an all the tropical cyclones that directly or indirectly affected southern Califor-nia during the 20th Century.
July 1902: The remnants of a tropical cyclone, which made landfall in southern Baja California, produced rainfall of up to 2 inches in the deserts and southern mountains of southern California on the 20th and 21st. This occurred during the strong El Niño of 1901-02.
August 1906: This tropical cyclone tracked north northwestward across the Gulf of California into the southwestern states generating rainfall of up to 5 inches in the deserts and southern mountains of southern California on the 18th and 19th. This occurred during the El Niño of 1905-06.
September 1910: The remnants of a tropical cyclone tracked northward into Santa Barbara county producing rainfall of 2 inches in the mountains of Santa Barbara County on the 15th.
August 1915: The remnants of a tropical cyclone moved northward across northern Baja California into the deserts of southern California with rainfall of 1 inch at Riverside on the 26th. This occurred during the strong El Niño of 1914-15.
September 1918: The remnants of a tropical cyclone tracking to the north northwest off the coast of Baja California and southern California gener-ated rainfall of 7 inches in the mountains of northern California, but only light amounts for coastal areas of southern California on the 11th and 12th. This occurred during the El Niño of 1918-19.
August 1921: The remnants of a tropical cyclone tracked northward into western Arizona from central Baja California generating rainfall of up to 2 inch-es in the deserts and southern mountains of southern California on the 20th and 21st. This occurred during the La Niña of 1920-21.
September 1921: The remnants of a tropical cyclone tracked northeast-ward across northern Baja California into southwest Arizona producing rainfall of up to 4 inches in the deserts of southern California on the 30th. This oc-curred during the La Niña of 1920-21.
September 1929: A tropical cyclone moved north northwestward just off the west coast of Baja California, dissipating off the coast of northern Baja California. Rainfall of up to 4 inches occurred in the southern mountains and deserts of southern California on the 18th.
September 1932: A tropical cyclone tracked north northwestward across the Gulf of California. The remnants generated rainfall of up to 7 inches in the mountains and deserts of southern California over a 4 day period ending on October 1st. Rainfall of 4.38 inches at Tehachapi in 7 hours on the 30th caused flash floods on Auga Caliente and Tehachapi Creeks resulting in 15 deaths. This occurred during the El Niño year of 1932-33.
August 1935: A tropical cyclone tracked northward across southern and central Baja California. The remnants spread into Arizona generating rainfall of up to 2 inches in the southern valleys, mountains, and deserts of southern California on the 25th.
August 1936: A tropical cyclone tracked north northwestward across the Gulf of California with the remnants tracking northward into western Arizona. Locally heavy rainfall occurred in the mountains surrounding Los Angeles on the 9th.
Four storms affected southern California during the one month of September 1939, including the only storm on record as actually hitting California as a tropical storm. All these storms occurred during the El Niño of 1938-39.
The remnants of a hurricane tracked northeastward across northern Baja California into southwest Arizona generating rainfall of up to 7 inches in the southern mountains and southern and eastern deserts of southern California on the 4th through 7th with the heaviest rain on the 5th and 6th. Blythe received more rain than would normally fall in one year and Imperial received more rain than would normally fall in two years.
The remnants of a second tropical cyclone tracked northeastward across northern Baja California into southwest Arizona. Moisture from this tropical cyclone interacted with an upper trough to the north generating rainfall of up to 4 inches in the deserts and central and southern mountains of south-ern California on the 11th and 12th.
A tropical cyclone moving northwestward, just off the west coast of Mexico, moved into southern Baja California and dissipated. The moisture from this tropical cyclone generated rainfall of up to 3 inches in the deserts and central and southern mountains of southern California on the 19th through 21st.
Near the end of the month a tropical cyclone moving to the northeast moved onshore at Long Beach at tropical storm strength with sustained winds of 50 mph. This is the only known eastern Pacific tropical cyclone to move onshore into southern California at tropical storm strength. Rainfall of 5 inches in the Los Angeles basin and 6 to 12 inches in the surrounding mountains occurred on the 25th. The heaviest rain in the deserts occurred the day before with 6.45 inches of rain at Indio in a 6-hour period on the 24th.
September 1941: Moisture from a north northwestward moving hurricane that slammed into southern Baja California generated rainfall of up to 1 inch in the southern mountains and deserts of southern California. This occurred during the strong El Niño of 1941-42.
September 1945: A tropical cyclone moving north northwestward just off the west coast of Baja California...dissipated off the coast of northern Baja California. Showers produced rainfall up to two inches in the central and south-ern mountains of southern California on the 9th and 10th.
September 1946: A tropical storm moved northward into northern Baja California and dissipated with rainfall of up to 4 inches in the southern moun-tains of southern California on the 30th and exceeding 4 inches in the central mountains of southern California on October 1st. This occurred during the El Niño of 1946-47.
August 1951: A hurricane moving north northwestward just off the west coast of Baja California moved northeastward into northern Baja California and dissipated. Moisture from this tropical cyclone resulted in rainfall of 2 to 5 inch-es in the southern mountains and deserts of southern California on the 27th through 29th. Many roads were washed out in the imperial valley, but otherwise no major damage occurred in southern California. This occurred during the El Niño of 1951-52.
September 1952: A west-northwestward moving tropical storm south-west of Baja California dissipated. Moisture from this storm resulted in rainfall of up to 2 inches in the deserts and central and southern mountains of south-ern California on the 19th through 21st with most falling on the 19th. This oc-curred during the El Niño of 1951-52.
July 1954: A northward moving hurricane made landfall in central Baja California with the remnants moving into Arizona. Rainfall of up to 2 inches occurred in the deserts and mountains of southern California on the 17th through 19th. This occurred during the El Niño of 1953-54.
July 1958: Moisture from a west northwestward moving tropical storm which dissipated west of central Baja California generated up to 2 inches of rainfall in the deserts and mountains of southern California on the 28th and 29th. This occurred during the El Niño of 1957-58.
September 1959: A north northwestward moving hurricane made landfall in southern Baja California with the remnants tracking across Baja California into southern California. Spotty rainfall amounts of up to one-half inch were recorded in the deserts and mountains of southern California on the 11th.
September 1960: North northwestward moving Hurricane Estelle dissi-pated west of the central Baja California coast. The heaviest rains in southern California were over the southern mountains with 3.40 inches at Julian on the 9th and 10th.
September 1963: Northeastward moving Tropical Storm Katherine made landfall in northern Baja California with rainfall of up to 7 inches in the central and southern mountains of south-ern California on the 17th through 19th. This occurred during the El Niño of 1963-64.
September 1965: North northwestward moving Hurricane Emily dissipated just off the west coast of central Baja California with spotty rainfall amounts up to 1 inch in the mountains of southern California on the 4th and 5th. This occurred during the El Niño of 1965-66.
September 1967: Hurricane Katrina crossed the southern tip of Baja California, then traversed almost the entire length of the Gulf of California before making landfall again and rapidly weakening. Rainfall of 2 inches occurred in the southern moun-tains and deserts of southern California on the 1st through 3rd.
September 1971: Caribbean sea Hurricane Irene crossed Nicaragua and reformed in the eastern Pacific as Hurricane Olivia. Olivia recurved to the northeast and made landfall in central Baja California with rainfall of up to one inch in the southeast deserts of southern California on the 30th and October 1st. This occurred during the La Niña of 1970-71.
September 1972: Hur-ricane Hyacinth moved as far west as 125 west before recurving to the northeast. The remnants made landfall between Los Angeles and San Diego on the 3rd with winds of 25 mph and rainfall of up to one inch in the central and southern mountains of south-ern California. This tropical cyclone holds the distinction of traveling the farthest west before recurving and making landfall in southern California. This occurred during the El Niño of 1972-73.
October 1972: Hur-ricane Joanne recurved making landfall in northern Baja California, maintaining tropical storm strength into Arizona and generating rainfall up to 2 inches in the south-east deserts of southern California on the 6th. This occurred during the strong El Niño of 1972-73.
September 1976: North-northwestward moving Hurricane Kathleen made landfall in northern Baja California with the rem-nants moving into southern California. Hurricane Kathleen brought the southwest the highest sustained winds ever associ-ated with an eastern Pacific tropical cyclone with sustained winds of 57 mph at Yuma on the 10th. Six to 12 inches of rainfall was observed in the central and southern mountains of southern California on the 10th and 11th. Most of Ocotillo, California was destroyed by flooding and three persons drowned. This occurred during the El Niño of 1976-77.
August 1977: Hurricane Doreen tracked north northwest-ward along the west coast of Baja California, dissipating over the southern California coastal waters. Most areas of southern California from Los Angeles south received at least 2 inches of rainfall with up to 8 inches in the mountains. Flooding was wide-spread with extensive crop damage. This occurred during the El Niño of 1977-78.
October 1977: Hurricane Heather recurved with the remnants tracking across northern Baja California into Arizona. There was rainfall up to 2 inches in the southern mountains and deserts of southern California on the 6th and 7th. This occurred during the El Niño of 1977-78.
September 1978: Hurricane Norman recurved with the remnants tracking into southern California from the south southwest. Rainfall was most intense on the 5th and 6th with amounts exceeding 3 inches in the mountains of southern California. This occurred during the El Niño of 1977-78.
June 1980: The northward moving remnants of Hurri-cane Celia produced scattered rainfall amounts up to one half inch in Santa Barbara County on the 29th and 30th.
September 1982: The remnants of Hurricane Norman tracked northeastward across northern Baja California into Arizona with scattered rainfall amounts up to 1 inch in the southern mountains and deserts of southern California on the 17th and 18th. This occurred during the strong El Niño of 1982-83.
September 1982: The remnants of Hurricane Olivia recurved northeastward across southern California with rainfall up to 4 inches in the mountains of southern California on the 24th through 26th. This occurred during the strong El Niño of 1982-83.
September 1983:
Northward moving Hurricane Manuel dissipated off the west coast of northern Baja California with up to 3 inches of rainfall in the southern mountains and deserts of southern California on the 20th and 21st. This occurred during the strong El Niño of 1982-83.
October 1983: The remnants of northward mov-ing Hurricane Priscella tracked across southern California with only scattered light rainfall on the 7th. This occurred during the strong El Niño of 1982-83.
September 1984: North northwestward moving Hurri-cane Marie dissipated off the west coast of northern Baja Cali-fornia with only scattered light rainfall for coastal southern California on the 10th and 1lth.
August 1997: The remnants of Hurricane Ignacio tracked northward moving inland in central California with gale force winds over portions of the southern California coastal waters. This occurred during the strong El Niño that began in 1997
● September 1997: Hurricane Linda became the strongest storm recorded in the eastern Pacific with winds estimated at 180 mph and for a time threatened to come ashore in California as a tropical storm. But the storm turned away, affecting the state with high surf and added moisture for showers and thun-derstorms. This occurred during the strong El Nino that began in 1997.
Source: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/lox/scripts/headline_download.php?get=20110927_1346.pdf
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