Hurricane Hilary track and timeline
In the late morning of Sunday, August 20, 2023, Mexico’s Baja California got hit with an unusual tropical cyclone that had been forming in the Pacific Ocean. Hurricane Hilary, as the storm was named by the International committee of the World Meteorological Organization, destroyed Baja California’s peninsula, resulted in someone’s death, and caused major flooding in most areas. The Mexican authorities sent warnings to the west coast of Baja California, San Felipe, and south of Puerto Penasco to get ready for a tropical storm that could be headed in any direction. The National Weather Service stated, “Areas that normally do not experience flooding will flood. Lives and property are in great danger through Monday.” This quote shows that Mexico and Southern California were not the only ones that were going to get hit, and get hit hard.
After the hurricane hit Mexico, what was now Tropical Storm Hilary was headed into Southern California. For the first time, Southern California was under a tropical storm warning. Panic and concern filled the California communities that were in the storm’s path. These communities were concerned that they were not equipped to manage torrential downpours, and people had no idea what kind of damage the storm would create.
Then, on Sunday evening, Hilary moved into Southern California, becoming the first tropical storm in 84 years to hit the area. By Monday, August 21, Hilary had dumped 3.18 inches of rain on the desert side of Palm Springs. That is about half of the amount of rain Palm Springs gets in just a year, which makes this the worst storm that has passed through Palm Springs since 1930. While that was going on, Hilary was also drenching Mount Wilson, causing up to 8.5 inches of rain, 4.8 inches in Beverly Hills, and 3 inches in LA. Greg Postel, a hurricane and storm specialist, told CBS News, "It is rare — indeed nearly unprecedented in the modern record — to have a tropical system like this move through Southern California." This is very rare for California, because the cold water from Alaska usually prevents the types of storms like Hilary. Greg Postel was not the only one who mentioned that this was very unusual for California. David Parkinson, a weather specialist for CBS News, says, “You're looking at a winter-like storm now in the summer in places that are not used to this amount of rain.”
To add insult to injury, while Tropical Storm Hilary was moving into Southern California, there was a large earthquake whose epicenter was an hour from Los Angeles. The earthquake was a 5.1 magnitude earthquake. While it did not cause much damage, because of it, a new hashtag emerged: #Hurriquake.
After Hilary left parts of Southern California flooded, hit by mudslides or rockslides, and without electricity, it kept moving further into the western United States, where CBS says there were flood watches in northwest Arizona, most of Nevada, southwest Utah, eastern Oregon, western and central Idaho, and southeast Washington. The amount of rain that Nevada received was almost historic, causing many people to panic and fear about mudslides and landslides. As for Idaho and Oregon, they got up to five inches of rain. Now, a week after it hit the Western US, there is no longer a threat, but communities are still shaken up from the one death and rebuilding ahead of them.
By Talia Kraynak