Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. Im fredericka witfield. The southwestern u. S. Is bracing for potentially catastrophic flooding as hurricane hilary churns off the pacific. We just learned moments ago that the storm has weakened just a bit to a category 3 storm with 125 mile an hour winds. Its lashing mexico with strong winds and high waves right now. Forecasters warn it could dump more than a years worth of rain across parts of california, nevada and arizona. The storm is expected to weaken as it moves north, but the threat is so severe, a Tropical Storm watch has been issued for california, the first ever for that state. People there are trying to prepare as best they can. Cnn meteorologist Allison Chinchar is joining us. A new advisory has just been issued. While it may have been downgraded a little bit, thats still very threatening. Right. Keep in mind the weakening was forecast. We knew as it slid into cooler waters, this was going to happen. In terms of the fore
biggest concern with this, not just along the baja, california, but even the state of california, nevada and western arizona. we get that heavy rain overnight tonight, lasting the entire day tomorrow before retreating in the second half of the day monday. you re talking 48 straight hours of very heavy rainfall. you ve got a high risk for excessive rainfall in this pink area here that includes death valley stretching into palm desert and las vegas, los angeles and san diego looking at a moderate risk of excessive rainfall. these areas are talking 2-4 inches of rain. that may not sound like all that much, but for these areas that s a year s worth of rain in some spots. they re going to get that in one to two days. in a few areas we re talking 8 to even 10 inches of rain in a short period of time. there s another system right
california is bracing for yet another storm amid concerns that additional rainfall could intensify problems at the oroville dam. for more, let s head to our fox weather center and meteorologist adam klotz. yes, the system you re talking about is just now beginning to run up onto the west coast. this is one that is going to be lingering so the heaviest rain is still beginning to make its way in that right now stretching from northern california up to portions of northern washington. let me put you on an hour by hour forecast, and you will see the heaviest rain as we time this out for you moving through wednesday is going to be something that takes place more so, really heavy rain overnight tonight into early thursday morning. that is eventually going to run up into the mountains where you begin to see some snowfall then further off to the west, that is another round, additional rain on the way. this is going to be kind of wave after wave, battering the west coast for the next couple d