Meteorologists are keeping an eye on a powerful tropical storm spinning off the coast of Mexico, heading north up to Southern California. High wind speeds began in Manzanillo, Mexico, and began to move up the United States. The storm is predicted to soon approach the Baja California Peninsula, where the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean are separated.
This Category 4 hurricane, declared Hurricane Hilary, will bring heavy rainfall, flash floods, and rainfall to the Northern areas of Los Angeles. After making its way up Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, where it made landfall late on Sunday morning, Hurricane Hilary passed into Southern California as a tropical storm Sunday evening and brought flooding.
It was the first time a tropical storm warning or watch had ever been issued for the area after the storm prompted National Hurricane Center authorities to do so for the majority of Southern California. Early on Monday, Hilary had been lowered once more to a post-tropical cyclone. Even though the system was predicted to fade later in the day, the Western United States continued to experience major floods, heavy rains, and strong gusts.
“This is not like the other storms we’ve experienced. It’s a huge footprint, it goes all the way from the desert out into the ocean,” says Chris Heiser, executive director for the San Diego Office of Emergency Services. “It’s possible, depending on the track of the system, some of that moisture may lift further north into Central and Northern California on Monday and Tuesday, maybe even into the Pacific Northwest after that,” said Zack Taylor, a forecaster with the Weather Prediction Center.
The storm’s center is expected to move into southern Nevada early on Monday, where it will begin to lose strength and turn into a post-tropical cyclone. It will then continue moving across Southern California through Sunday night. Through early Monday, Hilary is predicted to drop 3 to 6 inches of rain, with some areas of the northern Baja California peninsula receiving up to 10 inches. The center warned that there might be catastrophic flash and urban flooding in several areas. Parts of Southern California and southern Nevada are predicted to receive comparable quantities of severe, heavy rain through Monday morning, which could cause dangerous to catastrophic flooding.
In addition to providing a significant amount of precipitation at what is often the driest period of the year, when wildfires are always a potential problem, Tropical Storm Hilary blew through the Golden State on Sunday. Parts of Southern California saw floods, landslides, and debris flows.
