Washington, Aug 18 (IANS): Hurricane Hilary is rapidly intensifying in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Mexico and is on track to deliver potentially significant rain and flooding to parts of the US Southwest starting this weekend, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
In its latest update, the NHC said that as of Thursday night,Hilary had strengthened into a major Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 120 mph and even stronger gusts, CNN reported.
The storm will likely reach Category 4 hurricane strength on Friday with winds of at least 130 mph, the Center warned.
The hurricane was about 445 miles south of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, as of Thursday evening.
Hilary’s rainfall could arrive as early as Saturday in parts of the Southwest, with the worst of its impacts set to arrive in California on August 21.
Shifts in the forecast track will also affect which areas of northwestern Mexico will face the worst of Hilary’s winds, which will be strong enough to snap trees, down power lines and cause significant damage to property.
According to the NHC,Hilary is expected to weaken significantly before it reaches Southern California and parts of the Southwest, but there was still an increasing chance of significant impacts to these areas in the form of heavy rain and flooding, CNN reported.
Southern California could receive some of Hilary’s heaviest rainfall.
Widespread rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches may fall there and in southern Nevada from Saturday through August 21.
The heaviest rainfall is expected mainly August 20-21.
Rainfall is also likely in parts of Arizona, Central California and northern Nevada.
If the storm makes landfall in California as a tropical storm, it would be the first in nearly 84 years, and only the third tropical storm or stronger to do so on record, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The most recent was an unnamed tropical storm in 1939, NOAA records show.
Before that, the San Diego Hurricane made landfall in October 1858 -- California’s only hurricane landfall on record.
Nora in 1997 was the last and only other tropical storm to maintain its status after crossing into California.