How Rare Are Hurricanes Along the U.S. West Coast?

October 2, 1858 was not a good day to be in San Diego. On that Saturday morning, shortly before noon, the city was clobbered by a hurricane the likes of which the 4,300 residents had never seen before. Though modern analyses of long ago newspaper accounts and weather records peg the storm as just a Category 1, it nonetheless packed a considerable punch.

“A terrific gale sprung up from the S.S.E. [south-southeast],” reported the Daily Alta California at the time, “and continued with perfect fury until about 5 p.m., when it somewhat abated…It blew with such violence, and the air was filled with such dense clouds of dust, that it was impossible to see across the Plaza…[H]ouses were unroofed and blown down, trees uprooted, and fences destroyed. It is said to have been the severest gal