The eastern Pacific’s newest tropical system is currently churning out at sea, but Rosa is on track to later cause flooding across the American Southwest.
Rosa developed into a hurricane on Wednesday, and is expected to swiftly reach major hurricane status by the end of the week.
"The track of Rosa will keep it well west of Mexico through the weekend, meaning the primary impact to land through the weekend will be limited to rough surf and rip currents along the western coast of Mexico," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski. Fortunately, the system is forecast to be a tropical storm by the time it finally reaches the coast of Baja California, Mexico, early next week.
A tropical storm is a system with sustained wind speeds of up to 72 mph (117 km/h), which are capable of downing trees and power lines, resulting in property damage, power outages and travel disruptions. Communities in central and northern Baja California should begin to prepare for this potentially disruptive weather.
Additionally, Rosa is expected to produce potentially dangerous amounts of rainfall that will spread over areas far beyond the shores of Mexico. "Regardless of its exact intensity as it approaches the Baja, moisture from Rosa will be pulled northward and northeastward across northern Mexico and into the southwestern United States," Pydynowski warned. "This could lead to locally heavy rainfall and flash flooding later next week across parts of the southwestern U.S."
Many places across the Desert Southwest typically receive about 0.5 of an inch of rain or […]
This story is part of our ‘News from Around the Web’ publication, continue reading the story here: Rosa to impact northwest Mexico before soaking US Desert Southwest
