Hurricane Hilary, a large and powerful Category 4 storm, was on Friday barreling toward the Baja California peninsula and the Southwestern United States, where it may cause “significant and rare impacts,” meteorologists said.
Hurricane Hilary, a large and powerful Category 4 storm, was on Friday barreling toward the Baja California peninsula and the Southwestern United States, where it may cause “significant and rare impacts,” meteorologists said.
The National Hurricane Center issued its first ever tropical storm watch for Southern California on Friday. A watch means that tropical conditions are possible within the area over the next 48 hours. The watch stretches from the California-Mexico border to the Orange County and Los Angeles County line and for Catalina Island, forecasters said.
The system had sustained winds near 145 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Tropical disturbances that have sustained winds of 39 mph earn a name. Once winds reach 74 mph, a storm becomes a hurricane, and at 111 mph it becomes a major hurricane.
Hilary formed as a tropical storm off the coast of Manzanillo, Mexico, on Wednesday and began moving west-northwest toward Baja California as it strengthened. While the storm’s intensity was expected to fluctuate throughout Friday, it will weaken but remain a hurricane as it approaches the west coast of Baja California on Saturday.
Hilary will then likely become a tropical storm by Sunday before reaching Southern California.
Hilary’s exact landfall likely will not make much of a difference when it comes to the expected hazards in the region, meteorologists said.
Hilary will dump up to 6 inches of rain, with isolated amounts up to 10 inches, across portions of Baja California through Sunday night, with the possibility of flash flooding.
