Hurricane Hilary is expected to intensify into a major hurricane on Thursday before rapidly weakening on Saturday and making landfall somewhere along the west coast of Baja California or Southern California this weekend.
Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Note: All times are in Pacific Daylight Time, which is three hours behind Eastern time.
By Madison Dong
Forecasters are confident that Hilary will track parallel to the Mexico coast for a day or so, which makes it difficult to pinpoint where the storm will come ashore.
Satellite image of Hurricane Hilary.
Source: NOAA
The farther west it tracks, the greater the rainfall and winds that are expected in Southern California. If the storm moves inland over the Baja California Peninsula, the rainfall is likely to be more significant in places like Arizona.
Torrential rainfall is the biggest threat. Heavy rain is forecast to fall over a wide area, but a narrower section of much higher totals is likely. The area of heaviest rain will shift east or west based on the storm’s actual track.
