🚀 go-pugleaf

Ronald Mendricks (ronm@crl.com) wrote:
> If there's an ocean in the east that produces so much violent weather, 
> floods, tornadoes, etc., and there's an ocean to the west, why doesn't 
> the west get hurricanes?

The reason the Western US doesn't get hurricanes is rather simple.  In
order for a hurricane to develop, the ocean temperature must be above 80
deg. F.  But, along the West Coast, there is a cold current, so temps
never reach (at least consistently) 80 deg. F.  Hurricanes commonly form
off the coast of Mexico at this time of year, and drift north and die, or
drift west and perhaps reach Hawaii before dying.  The ocean temps to the
south of California, and in the central Pacific, are warm enough to
sustain a hurricane (or tropical storm, or depression).

Tornadoes occur in California, though they are not particularly common nor
destructive.  The tornadoes that form in "Tornado Alley" in the south and
central US form under specific upper-level atmospheric conditions which
don't occur in California, due in part to the lack of a source of warm,
moist air (derived from a warm ocean).  Incidentally, the waters in the
Gulf of Mexico and West Atlantic do reach into the 80s.

Again, the source of warm, moist air (derived from a nearby warm ocean) is
important in creating the large storms that occur in the Midwest.  Warm
air is unstable, and as it rises, the prodigious amounts of water vapor
stored in the air condense to form clouds (I'm too tired to explain it
further, but the point is that warm, moist air is very
important in the formation of thunderstorms).  Now, let me point out that
the flooding in the Mississippi River Basin is perfectly normal and
natural- those areas are called FLOODplains for a reason.  The Mississippi
drainage basin is very large, allowing the collection of massive amounts
of water.  If too many storms occur over the basin, the river is not
capable of transporting all the water within its channel, and floods
occur.  Anyway, I think
the reason the Midwest gets large storms and we don't is, simply, twofold:
 -presence of a warm body of water nearby (Gulf of Mexico)  (Midwest)
 -lack of a warm body of water nearby, due to the California Cold Current (CA)

I hope this answers your questions.

Jeffrey
--
******************************************************************************
Jeffrey Trust					|
jtrust@huey.csun.edu or hbgeo002@huey.csun.edu  |   I speak only for myself
Student		           		        |     +-----------------+
Department of Geological Sciences		|_____________________________
California State University, Northridge	          *The Epicenter of Learning*
------------------------------------------------------------------------------