Southern California is in for a rainy weekend as Hurricane Hilary is expected to make landfall causing severe flooding and potential power outages.
Hilary is currently swirling over the Pacific Ocean and was upgraded to a category four hurricane late last night.
While it is expected to be downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it reaches the California-Mexico border, the Los Angeles County-Orange County line, and Catalina Island, this is the first-ever tropical storm watch for California.
Hilary could dump more than “a year’s worth of rain” in its short time in California, a rarity during the summer season, increasing the risk of flash floods and potential power outages.
The force of the storm is expected to hit Sunday into Monday affecting festivals this weekend like Splash House and Insomniac’s new Interstellar.
Splash House has issued a statement saying they will continue to monitor conditions, keep attendees updated, and have backup plans just in case.
Interstellar has not commented on the impending rain as of the writing of this article, but the event will take place in Long Beach along the waterfront where high surf, rip currents, and strong winds are expected.
A major danger is flash flooding on roadways, so be wary when driving to these events.
The US West Coast typically does not see hurricanes due to the cold ocean temperatures and trade winds, but climate change has heated the Pacific Ocean and altered jet streams enough to the point that Hurricane Hilary could retain some strength into Southern California.
Updated 12:22PM
Insomniac’s newest festival Interstellar has been cancelled due to the impending storm. Local authorities have cancelled the event claiming weather conditions pose a significant risk to the waterfront festival grounds.
Those who have tickets should be receiving an email with “next steps.”
You can read Interstellar’s statement here.
Featured image a stock photo from Pixabay
