California Under Its First-Ever Tropical Storm Watch

The summer of 2023 has logged another milestone in weather weirdness: Southern California is now under a tropical storm watch for the first time ever. The National Hurricane Center made the move Friday as Hurricane Hilary gathered strength off Mexico's Pacific coast. What's ahead:

• The hurricane is expected to weaken to a still-powerful tropical storm as it approaches Mexico's Baja California Peninsula on Saturday. It may come ashore overnight Sunday in Mexico or possibly in California itself. If the latter happens, it would be the first time in 84 years that a tropical storm made landfall in the state, notes the AP.
• Hilary is expected to drench southern parts of California, Nevada, and Arizona with "a year's worth of rain," per CNN.
• San Diego in particular is bracing, per the local Union-Tribune. Rain there is expected to start Saturday, then become severe through Sunday. "The rain could last for many hours in some places," says National Weather Service forecaster Brandt Maxwell. "And we think there's a greater than 50% chance that tropical storm-force winds will hit coastal waters with gusts of 39 mph or higher." (See a hurricane center map.)

• As the New York Times notes, the region is going to get slammed whether the storm comes ashore in California or Mexico. Los Angeles and Ventura counties have issued flood watches, as has Catalina Island. Though the rain will peak on Sunday and Monday, it is expected to continue through Wednesday. This year's El Nino is a factor in the storm, notes the Times, which adds that there "is solid consensus among scientists that hurricanes are becoming more powerful because of climate change."
• "Rainfall amounts of 3 to 6 inches, with isolated amounts of 10 inches, are expected across portions of southern California and southern Nevada, which would lead to significant and rare impacts," reads the warning from the hurricane center, per the AP. "Elsewhere across portions of the Western United States, rainfall totals of 1 to 3 inches are expected."

(More tropical storms stories.)