Rainfall from Hilary almost met the yearly average for some areas of California
Tropical Storm Hilary dumped inches of rain on Southern California on Sunday, with some areas seeing rainfall totals that almost met their average rainfall total for the year.
Palm Springs usually sees just 4.85 inches of rain a year. Hilary, however, dropped a whopping 3.18 inches of rain on the city by Sunday evening, making it the wettest August day for the area.
The previous record for wettest August day in Palm Springs was set on Aug. 17, 1930, when rain after Hurricane Doreen dumped 2.03 inches on the city.
Hilary has also broken the record for wettest day in August for several other areas, according to the National Weather Service.
Are you wondering how Sunday stacked up to the wettest day on record in August? pic.twitter.com/5GzKcrh4DE
— NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) August 21, 2023
In nearby San Jacinto, which usually gets 12.51 inches of rain annually, Hilary dropped a whopping 11.73 inches in two days, according to the service.
Even though Hilary was downgraded to a tropical storm before it made landfall in California, the storm caused flooding in parts of the state, and a flash flood warning was in effect for Los Angeles, Glendale and Santa Clarita until Monday morning.
The average rainfall in Los Angeles depends on the area, but it ranges from about 12 inches at ocean level to about 24 inches in the foothills, according to the service.
The Hollywood Reservoir usually gets 12 inches of rain annually and just 0.01 inch in August. But it saw 4.92 inches of rain from Hilary, the service said in its two-day rainfall report.
Downtown Los Angeles recorded 2.48 inches of rainfall on Sunday, making it the wettest August day ever in that area, according to the service. What's more, Los Angeles County usually has a dry summer, with most of its rainfall occurring in winter.
Death Valley is known for its extreme heat and drought conditions, with an average of 2.24 inches of rain annually. But even this desert area was affected by Hilary and the service issued a flood watch for Death Valley and surrounding areas, in effect until Tuesday.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Death Valley National Park (@deathvalleynps)
Hilary was forecast to hit Death Valley and nearby Las Vegas on Monday morning. Death Valley National Park was closed on Monday because flooding had already begun.
On Instagram, the park shared a video of the rushing floodwaters at Zabriskie Point on Monday morning and said conditions are expected to worsen as Hilary continues to dump water on the area over the next few days.
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Caitlin O'Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift.
