Hurricane Hilary, a Category 4 storm, is due to reach Southern California this weekend, necessitating the first National Weather Service tropical storm watch for the region.
As of Friday morning, the storm was raging in the Pacific Ocean 65 miles southwest of Mexico’s Socorro Island.
Maximum sustained winds inside the storm stood at 145 mph, moving northwest at 10 mph, per a NWS National Hurricane Center update.
As such, Hilary was expected to weaken but still be a hurricane when it passes by the western coast of the Mexican state of Baja California on Saturday.
Hilary is projected to weaken Sunday before reaching Southern California as a tropical storm that night.
By then, Hilary will have wind speeds of over 39 mph.
With the storm comes rain. The hurricane center’s report projects 3 to 6 inches of rain across parts of California and Nevada. Other rain phenomena from Tropical Storm Hilary may include up to 10 inches in isolated areas.
Residents are warned to watch out for flash floods and landslides as a result of the rain.
No tropical storms have hit Southern California since September 1939, when El Cordonazo, or the Lash of St. Francis, drenched the region.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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