Hilary Hits California
Aug. 21st, 2023 09:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerHurricane Hilary, downgraded first to Tropical Storm Hilary and now just Post-Tropical Cyclone Hilary (that really rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?), has traveled across Southern California and into Nevada. Tropical storms hitting California are rare. The last was Nora in 1997.
Hilary's main effect in Southern California has been to bring huge amounts of rain. ...Huge by local standards and the fact that it rarely rains in the summer, at all. Some stats I saw in the news:
These rains have caused spot flooding and debris flows across roads, particularly in desert-y areas. Loss of life seems minimal, and property damage is not overwhelming. Basically the storm's bad enough to muck up roads but not bad enough to destroy home or kill people as long as they hunker down and wait it out before trying to drive anywhere.
Up here in Silicon Valley, which is part of what's misnamed "Northern" California, the effects from the storm have been at most indirect. On Sunday, while Hilary was 350-400 miles away, battering Southern California and the deserts with record rains, up here it was warm and sunny. Temps hit 94° in Sunnyvale. Hawk and I swam in the pool! Overnight strong winds started blowing... "strong" being another relative term. There are gusts up to maybe 50mph? Not enough to be knocking over trees.
Currently Hilary is over central Nevada, about 80 miles east of Yosemite National Park in California. That puts it 250-300 miles due east of us. Given the counter-clockwise spin of weather from cyclones we're not going to see rain, though I expect gusty winds will continue into the afternoon.
Update, 12pm: Okay, so the sky got darker and we've just had some sprinkles here in Silicon Valley. That's an example of how hurricanes and tropical storms can shift weather hundreds of miles away.
Hilary's main effect in Southern California has been to bring huge amounts of rain. ...Huge by local standards and the fact that it rarely rains in the summer, at all. Some stats I saw in the news:
- Los Angeles had its rainiest summer day on record on Sunday with 2.82 inches of rain downtown
- San Diego had its rainiest summer day on record on Sunday with 1.82 inches of rain which is 10 times the city’s average summertime rainfall
- Death Valley had its second-wettest day in history on Sunday with 1.68 inches of rain. The wettest day in history occurred on August 5, 2022, when 1.70 inches of rain fell.
These rains have caused spot flooding and debris flows across roads, particularly in desert-y areas. Loss of life seems minimal, and property damage is not overwhelming. Basically the storm's bad enough to muck up roads but not bad enough to destroy home or kill people as long as they hunker down and wait it out before trying to drive anywhere.
Up here in Silicon Valley, which is part of what's misnamed "Northern" California, the effects from the storm have been at most indirect. On Sunday, while Hilary was 350-400 miles away, battering Southern California and the deserts with record rains, up here it was warm and sunny. Temps hit 94° in Sunnyvale. Hawk and I swam in the pool! Overnight strong winds started blowing... "strong" being another relative term. There are gusts up to maybe 50mph? Not enough to be knocking over trees.
Currently Hilary is over central Nevada, about 80 miles east of Yosemite National Park in California. That puts it 250-300 miles due east of us. Given the counter-clockwise spin of weather from cyclones we're not going to see rain, though I expect gusty winds will continue into the afternoon.
Update, 12pm: Okay, so the sky got darker and we've just had some sprinkles here in Silicon Valley. That's an example of how hurricanes and tropical storms can shift weather hundreds of miles away.
