the baja peninsula parts of california are under the first tropical storm watch ever issued for that state. hilary, a major category 4 storm now, but expected to weaken by the time it reaches the u.s. forecasters warn, though, it could still make a direct hit on california later this weekend as a tropical storm. that would be a first in 84 years. parts of southern california, arizona, and nevada tonight bracing for heavy rains and flooding fema tonight pre-positioning personnel and supplies in the region, and it s not the only weather whiplash we re following tonight after rare damaging tornadoes struck new england early today. antonia hylton is covering it all for us. reporter: tonight, terrifying moments during the morning commute. this tornado tearing across a rhode island highway. one of at least three to touch down in new england. the storm also ripping massive trees from their roots leaving homes drenched and backyards reduced to a tangled mess
and shellfish industry across the midwest. farmers across the midwest will be seeing the same problem. i was recruited out to des moines to kind of break things up, break the mold a little bit and shake things up in talking about climate change because they re at the mercy of mother nature. and it may not be as visual as king tide flooding in miami or boston where roads are flooded on perfectly sunny days because of the rising sea level. but we re seeing weather swings, weather whiplash between drought and flooding. that is not a climate for farmers. there is also a big positive in iowa, which i tried to focus on. and a lot of optimism behind renewable energy. that s true energy dependence. 65% of the grid is powered by wind. we doubled the size and our electric bill was a lot lower because of the wind power, which is pretty remarkable. but it s been so chriticized an
weather whiplash, parts of droughts hurting california are now grappling with the opposite problem. there s way too much snow. nbc s steve patterson with an inside look at the changes and the stakes. from 23,000 feet, it feels like an expanse of the arctic circle. this is modern day california. all of this snow, a rare sight, high above the sierra mountains. absolutely remarkable. the coating of the snow pack across the mountains, or something out of star wars. it s a result of the state s weather whiplash, more than 30 back-to-back atmospheric rivers, flipping the threat from historic drought to historic flood risk. 55 billion tons of snow, enough to fill every major state reservoir twice. for football fans, you could