What’s going on with Tropical Storm Hilary?

Currently, Hilary is still over 1,000 miles south of California and several hundred miles off the west coast of Mexico. Earlier today, Hilary became a tropical storm and was formally named. As things stand now, Hilary will almost certainly become a hurricane within the next 24 hours. As of the latest forecast, Hilary is expected to strengthen to a major hurricane (category 3 or higher) through the end of the week before weakening and potentially making landfall near Baja California. It will continue to rapidly weaken as it approaches Southern California.

Tropical storms and hurricanes require a few main ingredients to form. They are: warm ocean waters (at least 80°F or 26°C), moist air and converging winds. Currently, all three conditions are being met. This explains why Hilary strengthened today into a tropical storm and why it is expected to become a hurricane in the next 24 hours. However, as it moves north, it will enter cooler waters. This is why Hilary will weaken as it approaches California and is also a large factor as to why Southern California rarely sees tropical storms or hurricanes.

While the specific of timing, impacts and exact path are not set in stone, there will be an abundance of moisture over Southern California this weekend and early next week regardless. We have issued a First Alert Weather Alert for Saturday through Monday in anticipation of widespread rain along with the potential for flooding and strong winds.

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You'll stay up-to-date with the latest weather videos. In addition, be able to monitor the changing conditions from wherever you are!