The 1858 San Diego hurricane was a very rare hurricane that impacted

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

. It is the only known

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depen ...

to directly impact California as a hurricane, although other systems have impacted California as tropical storms. The storm caused considerable damage to many homes and other structures in southern California, mainly around

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

. A later estimate indicated that if a similar storm happened in 2004, it would have caused $500 million (2004 USD) in damage.

Meteorological history

In late September 1858, a

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

formed over the eastern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, concurrent with a moderate

El Niño El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date ...

event spanning 1857–58. Unlike most east Pacific storms, this one accelerated toward the north-northeast. On October 2, it neared

while weakening, due to cool sea surface temperatures and strong wind shear. The hurricane just missed making landfall, while turning to the west-northwest. The storm approached Santa Catalina Island in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

and dissipated later on that day. There is some uncertainty to this reconstructed path.

Impact

, heavy rain fell, and property damage was significant; many homes lost their roofs, and a few even collapsed. In addition, trees were uprooted, and fences destroyed. A recently constructed windmill was also blown away completely. Three schooners, the ''Plutus'', the ''Lovely Flora'', and the ''X.L.'', were blown ashore, although only the ''X.L.'' suffered major damage. Rainfall in San Pedro was also heavy, but high winds were not reported. Parts of the embankment in the city were washed away, causing only around US$100 ($3,100.02 in 2019) in damage. The yacht ''Medora'' was washed ashore. Many reports claimed that the yacht was irreparable, but it was later claimed that the damage was not serious and could be repaired. A barge was destroyed, as was a large portion of the San Pedro wharf. El Monte was buffeted by high winds, damaging corn crops and trees.

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and

Visalia Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in ...

noted large amounts of rain, as much as , but wind strength as low. Two researchers with

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

, Michael Chenoweth and

Christopher Landsea Christopher William "Chris" Landsea is an American meteorologist, formerly a research meteorologist with the Hurricane Research Division of the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory at NOAA, and now the Science and Operations Offi ...

reconstructed the path of the hurricane using accounts from newspapers of the strong winds. They estimated that if a similar storm were to have hit in 2004, it would have caused around US$500 million in damage.Chenoweth, Michael; Landsea, Chris (2005-01-11). The San Diego Hurricane of October 2, 1858. AMS Forum: Living in the Coastal Zone, 11 January 2005. Retrieved from http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/presentations/ams-sandiego.ppt#14.

Records

The hurricane was the only hurricane in recorded history known to impact California. Due to the cold water California Current tropical cyclones typically weaken, diminishing the storms' strength below the tropical storm level.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1858 San Diego Hurricane Category 1 Pacific hurricanes Hurricanes in California San Diego hurricane San Diego hurricane San Diego hurricane San Diego hurricane 19th century in San Diego History of San Diego County, California San Diego hurricane September 1858 events October 1858 events

Meteorological history

Impact

Records

See also

References