(Weather Underground) Hurricane Hilary is bringing bands of heavy rain and gusty winds to the Southwest and much of western Mexico. The remnants of Hilary will bring damaging wind gusts and potentially catastrophic flash flooding to the American Southwest this weekend.
The National Hurricane Center warned that "In the Southwestern U.S., the potentially historic amount of rainfall is expected to cause flash, urban, and arroyo flooding including landslides, mudslides, and debris flows. Dangerous to locally catastrophic flooding impacts are expected late tonight through early Monday," in their Saturday afternoon discussion.
Here is what you need to know about this storm, its potential impacts and why it's taking this track.
Where Hilary is right now: Hilary is currently located west of Mexico's Baja peninsula and is moving north-northwestward at an increasing pace. Hilary is a very large storm and is bringing bands of rain and gusty winds to Baja California and parts of western mainland Mexico. A wind gust of 63 mph was reported in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Saturday morning.
A tropical storm warning has been issued for parts of Southern California, including L.A., Orange and San Diego Counties, as well as portions of Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura Counties. This is the first time the National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service have issued such a warning for Southern California.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for the Baja California Peninsula, including Cabo San Lucas. Hurricane watches and warnings extend up the Pacific coast of the Baja Peninsula. In addition, flood watches are in effect across a wide swath of the West, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas and Boise.
Tracking Hilary Northward: Hilary is now accelerating toward the north-northwest, and that will take it close to at least part of Mexico's Baja Peninsula this weekend as a hurricane. Hilary will likely bring hurricane conditions to parts of Baja California, in the areas covered by warnings in the map above by late Saturday.
As Hilary interacts with cooler water and more land, it will continue to weaken through the weekend. In a much weaker state, Hilary is forecast to track over parts of California late Sunday into Monday, then transform into a batch of heavy rainfall soon after that.
