Hurricane Hilary heads toward California, Southwest with rare tropical storm conditions

Hurricane Hilary has rapidly intensified into a Category 4 storm off the western coast of Mexico with winds of 145 mph, and it’sand the Southwest U.S., with heavy rain and potentially strong winds. While Hilary is likely to weaken below hurricane strength as it moves north, it could become only the third ever tropical system to make landfall in California, the first since 1939, and could remain a tropical depression as far north as Oregon.

“Rainfall impacts from Hilary within the southwestern United States are expected to peak this weekend into Monday. Flash, urban, and arroyo flooding is expected with he potential for significant impacts,” the National Hurricane Center said. “The threat of significant wind impacts continues to increase for ... the Southwestern United States, especially in areas of mountainous terrain.”

The Hurricane Center is also warning that large swells from Hilary will reach the Gulf of California later this weekend. Meanwhile, winds surging ahead of the rain could fanIt’s unusual, but not unprecedented, for tropical systems to impact Southern California. Last year, Tropical Storm Kay brought wind gusts of more than 100 mph and flooding despite not making landfall on the state.

the Weather Service has issued a high risk for excessive rainfall three days ahead, which signals a 70 percent chance or higher of rainfall that could cause flash flooding.The National Weather Service is predicting around four to seven inches of rain for interior portions of Southern California into far southern Nevada, including Palm Springs, Death Valley, Big Bear Lake and Ocotillo Wells, and isolated amounts up to 10 inches are possible in mountain areas.

Heavy rain associated with Hurricane Hilary is expected to spread into the SW and western U.S. this weekend/early next week. Rainfall totals of 3-6" are forecast across portions of southern CA and southern NV, which would lead to significant impacts.

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