Treebeard's Stumper 24 September 1999

California Hurricane

We had beautiful tropical clouds here in Central California this week, even some thunder and a trace of rain. This was the edge of once-hurricane Hilary moving up the coast from Baja. It's been an active hurricane season with Floyd, Gert, and Harvey all making trouble in the Atlantic recently. Our tropical weather is a reminder that there are also Pacific hurricanes that form off the west coast of Mexico and sometimes move north. Why don't we get full-on hurricanes in California, and what does this tell us about the Earth? Temperature is not the whole story.

Tropical clouds over the Santa Ynez Mountains on August 26, 1999. Smoke from the lightning-caused Camuesa Fire is visible blowing over San Marcos Pass. The dark rays were really there.

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