Hurricane Hillary Poised To Strike S. California, Nevada— NWS Issues First Ever Tropical Storm Watch for So-Cal

Hurricane Hillary which is currently a Category 4 hurricane off the West Coast of Mexico is tracking toward landfall between the Gulf of California and Los Angeles with likely paths taking it close to San Diego on Sunday night into Monday.

According to The Washington Examiner, the storm was located just 65 miles southwest of Socorro Island with sustained winds of 145 mph and is moving Northwest at 10 mph. The storm has triggered the first National Weather Service tropical storm watch for the region since the last Tropical Storm made landfall in the state in 1939. The New York Times reported killed nearly 100 people and wiped out dozens of boats offshore, many died in the flooding, and others drowned at sea.
 

"In Los Angeles, 5.41 inches of rain fell in 24 hours, the heaviest September rain in the city’s history at the time. A deluge in the Coachella Valley washed out train tracks and destroyed 70 percent of the region’s date crop. The overall damage was estimated to be around $2 million, the equivalent of around $44 million in today’s dollars."

In its 1939 article the Times wrote that it couldn't compete with the tragedy occurring in Warsaw, Poland during the German invasion, saying: “Nature in her angriest moods, can scarcely hope to compete with the destruction decreed by Man.”

The last storm to make landfall in California prior to the 1939 storm was on October 2, 1858, when “one of the most terrific and violent hurricanes ever noted,” struck according to The Daily Alta California recorded in a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration paper cited by the Times. At that time, California had only been a state for 8 years, and San Diego was comparatively a small town.

Christopher Landsea of the National Hurricane Center and author of the paper told the outlet, “Back then, San Diego was just a tiny little town,"

He added, “San Diego is so different now that if that same hurricane were to hit today, then the damage could be catastrophic.”

According to The National Weather Service, 
 

"Heavy rainfall in association with Hilary is expected to impact the Southwestern United States through next Wednesday, peaking on Sunday and Monday. Rainfall amounts of 3 to 6 inches, with isolated amounts of 10 inches, are expected across portions of southern California and southern Nevada. Dangerous to locally catastrophic flooding will be possible.  Elsewhere across portions of the Western United States, rainfall totals of 1 to 3 inches are expected, resulting in localized flash flooding."

"Hurricane conditions are expected within the hurricane warning area beginning Saturday night and are possible within the hurricane watch by early Sunday. Tropical storm conditions are expected within the warning area tonight, and are possible within the watch area in Mexico on Saturday and Sunday and in southern California beginning late Sunday."


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