Why is the us pacific coast rarely the target of hurricanes

A couple of reasons. Hurricanes require sea surface temperatures of at least 80 degrees F. to form and sustain themselves. The coastal waters off of the Pacific US are normally too cool for this. The other reason is that the prevailing winds generally move these storms in a west/ northwest direction- away from the west coast of the US.

who said so? just because you call it another thing does not mean it doesn't exist. in the atlantic, the word to use is hurricane and in the west, as in pacific coastal regions, etc., the word to use is cyclone. same animal just different jungle. pacific ocean is the larger of the two and has a vast range. these cyclones can start in the center and breeze through with a velocity that shakes more than just the timbers. there has never, in my time or experience, been a simple cyclone or one that blows out to sea as they usually begin 'at sea' and end up on shore some place. the atlantic ocean storms, aka hurricanes, begin usually near the african coast, stride across the atlantic, can get caught in over-drafts of air currents and get blown out to sea and into cooler temps. at that point, the possible hurricane becomes null and void. can't say that, too much, about the pacific storms.

well, for what it's worth, that your three cent's worth of why there are cyclones v hurricanes in the pacific. what is it that shakespear said about the rose? smells the same by any other name? so true about those winds that do more than blow a man down.

Hurricanes & cyclones are fundamentally caused by friction between the "edge of space" and Earth's atmosphere, dragging large masses of air in a particular direction......if you have a globe handy, and you rotate it in the direction the Earth turns, you'll soon figure out which way these windy phenomena rotate, and why so very few of them would be headed TOWARDS the Americas from a Westerly direction!