SYRACUSE, NY (WSYR-TV) — Southern California may soon be dealing with something that quite often it does not — a tropical storm.
Hurricane Hilary continues to churn in the Pacific, with its forecast path including parts of Southern California Sunday night into Monday.
As of 11 a.m. Thursday, Hilary was about 530 miles south-southeast of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, headed west-northwest with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Hilary is forecast to rapidly intensify, becoming a major hurricane as soon as late Thursday.
The hurricane is projected to take a turn toward the north over the weekend, leading to concerns about potential impacts here in the United States.
The Baja California peninsula of Mexico is likely to feel the brunt of the impact of Hurricane Hilary with damaging winds, heavy rain, dangerous surf, and the threat of flooding. The storm will likely weaken quickly as it moves farther inland across the southwestern United States, including southern California.
However, the current forecast keeps Hilary at least at tropical storm status with sustained winds of 60 miles per hour upon entering the Golden State in the pre-dawn hours of Monday, before weakening rapidly and losing that tropical storm status by early Tuesday.
California is typically not susceptible to tropical storms and hurricanes because these storms are often steered on a west-to-northwesterly path out over the Pacific Ocean away from the U.S.
Cooler sea surface temperatures off the west coast also help to keep tropical development at bay and weaken it considerably upon its rare but occasional entry to the region.
Only a handful of tropical systems have impacted the state of California, including just one hurricane all the way back in 1858.
