The Western United States had been witnessing extreme heat waves in recent months, however, might see its fortunes change with heavy rain and flooding. This development in weather comes after the landfall of Hurricane Kay on Thursday, September 8, 2022, in Mexico’s Baja Peninsula.

According to weather forecasters, Hurricane Kay made landfall near the center of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico, which is around 760 miles from Mexico’s Pacific coast. Kay has sustained a maximum wind speed of 70 mph, along with heavy rains and powerful storm surges, according to the National Hurricane Center.

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Hurricane Kay was holding in 370 miles south-southeast of San Diego on Thursday night, which resulted in tropical storm warnings in the area. While the hurricane is not expected to enter the US mainland, forecasters have maintained that it will cause wind, heavy rains and flash flooding in California and Arizona from Friday, September 9.

It is not very common to witness a tropical cyclone in Southern California, the last of which, Hurricane Nora, ravaged the state more than 20 years ago, in 1997. Nora entered the mainland US and moved over southeast California as a tropical storm, causing electricity outages in Los Angeles, followed by flash flooding in San Diego.

Southern California is expected to witness between 2-4 inches of rainfall as a result of the Hurricane, while Southwest Arizona will experience 1-2 inches of rain. The weather is expected to clear after Sunday. Forecasters at the National Weather Service have warned of strong winds in southern California too.

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A heat alert has been issued for 41 million residents in the two western states in the last 10 days. The rainfall caused by Kay is expected to break the average monthly rainfall in Arizona and California. The average rainfall in Los Angeles in September is 0.13 inches while for San Diego, it remains at 0.12 inches. Both cities are expected to experience more than 10 times of usual rainfall in the upcoming days.

On the other hand, Hurricane Earl is holding near Bermuda and the island is expected to witness a tropical storm as a result. The US Atlantic Coast is expected to witness swells and rip currents on Thursday.