Tropical Storm Rachel targets the West Coast with flooding rain and gusty winds
Tropical Storm Rachel is forecast to bring some trouble to the West in the form of flooding rains, strong winds and even a snowstorm in the Northwest.
THE TAKEAWAY
Tropical Storm Rachel is forecast to bring some trouble to the West in the form of flooding rains, strong winds and even a snowstorm in the Northwest.
Rachel weakened slightly on Thursday morning, getting downgraded to a tropical storm as it continues moving through the East Pacific.
While the storm will continue weakening as it approaches Southern California and Mexico over the weekend and lose its tropical characteristics, the moisture from the system isn't going anywhere.
A broad dip in the jet stream drives across the Western U.S. and West Coast, the steering winds are expected to shift dramatically, possibly pushing the moisture plume of Rachel back toward the east right across Southern California and into the Southwest.
Rain will start on Saturday across portions of California and the Southwest, but the flood threat really starts to ramp up on Sunday.
A level 2 out of 4 flash flood threat reaches across a large portion of the Southwest from Southern California all the way to Utah, including major cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas.
In these areas, 2 to 3 inches of rain is possible, the FOX Forecast Center said.
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The rain will prove beneficial for Southern California, easing up the sweltering heat impacting the region all week.
If all the rain and flooding wasn't enough, the FOX Forecast Center said moisture from this system will reach as far north as Montana, helping fuel a fall snowstorm across the state and northern Wyoming.
Further, some moisture will make it way across the Sierra Nevada, bringing snow to some of the higher elevations.
Rachel isn't the only system forecast to impact land this weekend. Tropical Storm Simon is moving parallel to the Mexican Coastline and is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane.
Simon is expected to make landfall in Mexico, bringing dangerous winds, high storm surge and torrential downpours across terrain-vulnerable mountain ranges, the FOX Forecast Center.
Stay with FOX Weather as we continue to bring the latest forecasts on not only Rachel and Simon but Hurricane Isaias in the Gulf as well.
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