Hurricane Hilary updates: Tropical storm could bring strong winds to Southern California coast Sunday morning

A rare hurricane will hit southern California as early as Sunday morning, bringing dangerous winds of 70 mph and downpours, forecasters say.

Tropical Storm Hilary is currently brewing in the Pacific Ocean off mainland Mexico and will develop into a hurricane at 1 p.m. Thursday and a major hurricane at 1 a.m. Saturday.

By Sunday afternoon, Hilary is expected to become a lesser hurricane, then impact Southern California and possibly Los Angeles as a tropical storm.

In the past century, only two full-blown tropical storms have hit the California coast.

“While it is too early to determine the location and extent of rain and wind effects, interests in these areas should monitor Hilary’s progress and updates to the forecast,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned Wednesday.

Southern California will be hit by a rare hurricane early Sunday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center

“Large swells from Hilary will spread northward along the coast of southwestern Mexico and the Baja California Peninsula in the coming days,” the agency explained.

The track of the hurricane proves difficult to accurately predict which areas will receive the greatest impact.

According to forecasters, ‘There remains a very large scatter in the final trajectory, so this remains a very low confidence prediction, both in trajectory and effects.

That said, virtually all members of the GEFS ensemble are showing moderate to heavy rainfall, particularly south of Pt. Conception.’

The Los Angeles National Weather Service said residents should monitor the situation closely because of the risk of isolated flooding.

There is also the danger of lightning and if it arrives with wind but no rain, there can be a fire hazard.

The NWS has also warned that the storm could create dangerously large waves.

Hilary, the agency said, “will bring the potential for hazardous marine conditions to all coastal waters starting this Sunday.”

A winter storm caused damage in San Clemente, California, in March this year

Areas in California, including Merced (pictured), experienced extreme flooding in January after a massive storm ravaged the state

“While any wind and weather effects from these systems in the local area are highly uncertain, prolonged, steep, southerly swell and high surf are possible over the coming weekend and beyond,” the NWS said.

The storm would be the third to hit the California coat 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.