Hurricane Could Bring California a Year’s Worth of Rain in One Day

Hurricane Kay, which made landfall Thursday in the Baja California peninsula in Mexico as a category 1 storm, could cause a year’s worth of rain to fall in one day in parts of Southern California on Friday and Saturday.

The storm could also bring high winds and even higher temperatures, increasing the threat of wildfires across terrain in the midst of a lengthy heat wave.

CNN reported:

Heavy rains will drench southern California Friday – potentially bringing several months to a year’s worth of rain to a normally arid landscape. But that’s not all: As the storm moves north, strong winds – far from providing immediate relief from California’s climate crisis-driven heat wave – actually could push already record temperatures higher in some places.

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Kay is forecast to track parallel to the Baja California peninsula through Friday, pushing what could be record-breaking amount of moisture into Southern California and Arizona. Then just shy of the US-Mexican border, it will turn westward – away from the coast – as it makes the closest pass to Southern California for a hurricane since 1997’s Hurricane Nora.

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Winds could gust to more than 60 mph as the system interacts with Southern California’s mountainous terrain. And those winds will be coming from the east, which means they will have a warming effect on coastal cities; as air travels down mountains, it is compressed and its temperature rises.

Local ABC News affiliate KABC-7 reported in Los Angeles:

As it heads north into cooler waters it is expected to bend to the west over the Pacific and weaken to a tropical storm or depression. It will start passing offshore Southern California Friday night, pushing heavy moisture in the area.

By Saturday, heavy rain can be expected in many inland parts of Southern California. Mountain communities and other areas with burn scars should be prepared for significant flash flooding.

Beaches will also see big waves for surfers, with 4-8 foot hurricane-pulse swells expected Saturday.

Swimmers and surfers have been advised to avoid the ocean on Friday and Saturday.

The heaviest rain and strongest winds are expected in the southern portion of the state, east of San Diego, according to local Fox affiliate KTTV-11.

With heavy rain comes the threat of landslides, especially in areas where dry soil and previous wildfires have exposed the earth to erosion.

California is already experiencing an energy crisis that has forced residents to conserve power for much of the afternoon and evening, every day for eight consecutive days.

The state has suffered from a drought that has lasted three years. Despite the heavy rainfall expected in Southern California, the drought is certain to continue. A return to normal conditions would require at least a year or two of very heavy, sustained rainfall and snowfall in the winter.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.