Cyclone Hilary Strengthens to Category 1 Hurricane, Threatening Mexican Pacific and Southern California

Cyclone Hilary has intensified this Thursday and is already a category 1 hurricane in the Mexican Pacific, where it will cause “very heavy” rains. In addition, it could make landfall as a tropical storm on the Baja California peninsula and enter California, United States.

Hilary, which emerged on Wednesday as a tropical storm, was 515 kilometers south-southwest of the port of Manzanillo, Colima, and 520 kilometers southwest of Punta San Telmo, Michoacán, when it became a hurricane, according to the National Meteorological Service ( SMN) from Mexico.

In the United States, the National Hurricane Center has also confirmed Hilary’s passage from a storm to a hurricane and says that it is expected to weaken significantly before it reaches southern California and parts of the Southwest, although it could leave heavy rains and flooding in area.

As University of California Los Angeles scientist Daniel Swain told CNN, “precipitation from several years” could fall in some of California’s driest areas.

According to the SMN of Mexico, the phenomenon moves to the west-northwest at 20 kilometers per hour and has sustained winds of 120 kilometers per hour with gusts of 150 kilometers per hour.

The forecast calls for Hilary to make landfall on Monday, when it reaches the northern state of Baja California as a tropical storm. For now, the SMN expects the hurricane to cause “very heavy occasional” rains in the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán and Guerrero, all in the Mexican Pacific. It has also reported “heavy” rains in Guanajuato, the State of Mexico, Mexico City and Morelos.

Likewise, the report warns of wind with gusts of 70 to 90 kilometers per hour and waves of 4 to 6 meters high in Jalisco, Colima and Michoacán, in addition to gusts of 50 to 70 kilometers per hour and waves of 3 to 5 meters high. height in Guerrero.

Hilary is the eighth named cyclone of the current Pacific hurricane season. In early May, the Government of Mexico forecast the possible formation of up to 38 named cyclones in the 2023 season, of which 5 could affect the country. Of that number, between 16 and 22 systems could occur in the Pacific Ocean and between 10 and 16 in the Atlantic.