For the first time ever, a tropical storm warning was issued Friday night by the National Weather Service for all Southern California communities.
The NWS said Friday night that most Los Angeles cities were under the tropical storm warning, including Malibu, Pacific Balisades, Beverly Hills, Compton, Culver City, Downey, Hollywood, Palos Verdes, LAX, Long Beach, Redondo Beach, Santa Monica, Torrance and Norwalk.
The NWS added the warning to coastal areas of Orange County, inland Orange County, and the Santa Ana Mountains and Foothills.
By 9 p.m., all communities in Southern California, including Riverside County, San Bernardino County, and San Diego County, and parts of Ventura County, were under the alert.
A tropical storm warning means winds of 39 to 73 mph are expected in the area within 36 hours.
The warning comes next Hurricane Hilary strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane Thursday. The hurricane is expected to hit southern California with heavy rainfall as early as this weekend, after making its way to Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula.
Hurricane Hilary: What can Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire expect from the Category 4 storm?
Forecasters said the storm is expected to produce 3 to 6 inches of rain, with a maximum of 10 inches, over parts of Baja California through Sunday night, with the possibility of flash flooding.
There will likely be “damaging wind gusts,” especially at higher elevations in the area, and swell along the coast, Greg Postel, a hurricane and storm specialist with the Weather Channel, said. told CBS News.
Paul Deanno explains everything you need to know about Hilary’s impact on LA, OC, IE and Riverside
The storm, which is not expected to be one Hurricane by the time it reaches California, it will hit the southwestern U.S. with heavy rainfall Friday through early next week, “peaking on Sunday and Monday,” according to the National Hurricane Center.
“It’s rare — even almost unprecedented in modern history — to have a tropical system like this pass through Southern California,” Postel told CBS News.
