Waking up to today’s weather forecast for this weekend in San Diego might make you think you were waking up in Houston or Miami. A possible hurricane possibly hitting San Diego?
The National Weather Service’s briefing for local emergency agencies and the media included the news.
Tropical Storm Hilary is churning off Mexico and will make landfall this weekend roughly between the Channel Islands and the California-Arizona border and might directly hit San Diego with potentially damaging winds and rain. And could reach hurricane strength with winds as high as 70 mph.
How unusual would that be? It hasn’t happened in a very long time.
According to the weather service records, San Diego has been directly hit by a hurricane only once…in 1858 when winds reached at least 70 mph. A tropical storm directly hit San Diego in 1939 with winds reaching 50 mph.
While we have felt the effects of hurricanes out at sea in the past, hurricanes and tropical storms actually hitting San Diego are obviously extremely rare.
But with all the unusual weather in recent weeks, months a few years, from record storms to record heat, guess we shouldn’t be surprised.
We might have to change our city’s slogan to having America’s “almost” Finest Weather.
(Photo courtesy of National Hurricane Center)