Hurricane Hilary becomes Category 3 on path to California – as Los Angeles and San Diego prepare for first tropical storm since start of WWII
Hurricane Hilary has grown into a major storm off the Pacific coast of Mexico, expected to hit the US Southwest with heavy rain by the weekend.
The National Hurricane Center said Hilary’s maximum sustained winds had increased to 125 mph, making it a Category 3 hurricane.
No tropical storm has made landfall in Southern California since September 25, 1939, according to the NWS. World War II had started just 24 days earlier.
Areas such as Palm Springs can receive up to four inches of rain, twenty times the average rainfall in August and nearly double the total rainfall in the past calendar year. Desert sun reported.
City like Thermal could see up to six inches, while the San Jacinto Mountains could see seven to nine inches.
Hurricane Hilary strengthened into a major storm off Mexico’s Pacific coast Thursday night, and it could bring heavy rain to the U.S. Southwest by the weekend
The hurricane center said that if Hilary approaches or passes by the Baja Peninsula, it may briefly survive as a tropical storm or tropical depression and cross the US border
Locations in the San Diego area are offering free sand and sandbags to help with preparation in coastal areas, according to Fox 5.
Up and down Southern California, workers were preparing the beaches to try and handle the intense waters.
The storm was expected to develop into a Category 4 hurricane on Friday while on a projected path threatening landfall on the central Baja California peninsula by Sunday or possibly remaining just offshore as it headed for Southern California .
Hilary was located about 430 miles south of Los Cabos on the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula.
It was moving from west to northwest at a speed of 22 kilometers per hour, but was expected to move more north in the coming days.
The hurricane center said if Hilary approaches or passes by the Baja Peninsula, it may survive briefly as a tropical storm or tropical depression and cross the US border.
“The precipitation impact of Hilary in the southwestern United States is expected to peak this weekend through Monday,” the hurricane center said. “Flash, urban and arroyo floods are possible with potentially significant impacts.”
The area potentially affected by heavy rainfall can stretch from Bakersfield, California, to Yuma, Arizona, as well as some parts of southern Nevada.
The outlook for excessive rainfall in Southern California is Sunday through Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Weather Bureau.
This satellite image, taken at 10:50 a.m. EDT on Thursday, August 17, 2023, and provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), shows Hurricane Hilary off the Pacific coast of Mexico
Up and down Southern California, workers were preparing the beaches to try and handle the intense waters
The storm was expected to develop into a Category 4 hurricane on Friday while on a projected path threatening landfall on the central Baja California Peninsula by Sunday or possibly remaining just offshore as it headed for Southern California
The outlook for excessive rainfall in Southern California extends from Sunday to Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Weather Bureau
While the chances of Hilary making landfall in California as a tropical storm are slim, there is a high chance of heavy rainfall and flooding, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said in an online briefing Wednesday.
The Mexican government said a weakened Hilary could reach the coast between the towns of Playas de Rosarito and Ensenada, in the state of Baja California, on Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, the city of Yuma prepared Thursday by providing residents with a self-service sandbag filling station.
The sandbag station is filled with sand and empty bags for you to fill yourself while supplies last. Residents were allowed five sandbags per vehicle.
The storm would be the third to hit the California coast in the last century.
Hurricane Nora in 1997 after it was downgraded to a tropical storm and Tropical Storm Long Beach making landfall near San Pedro in 1939.
No tropical cyclone has ever made landfall in California at hurricane intensity in recorded history.