Storm 95-E Threatens Southern California Flooding as Labor Day Surf Builds
Updated
Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Sep 1
Storm 95-E Threatens Southern California Flooding as Labor Day Surf Builds
3 articles · Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Sep 1
Summary
95-E could strengthen into Tropical Storm Marie as soon as Tuesday, but forecasters say its track remains highly uncertain and the most likely path still bends west away from California.
Southern California's main risk is not hurricane-force wind but a weakening system that could drag in deep moisture, heavy showers and thunderstorms, with flash floods, landslides and debris flows possible in mountain areas.
Saturday and Sunday already carry a coastal flooding threat because south swell from the storm may arrive with some of the month's highest tides, boosting moderate-to-large surf along south-facing beaches.
Hilary offers the closest recent comparison: its 2023 remnants caused about $900 million in U.S. damage and deadly flooding, even without a direct hurricane landfall in Los Angeles.
Scientists say such tropical-rain events may become more consequential as El Niño boosts eastern Pacific activity and climate change raises Southern California's rainfall and landslide exposure through 2050.