In already one of the strongest Pacific Hurricane seasons on record, with monster Hurricane Polo making landfall in Baja California Sur several weeks ago and several impacts to Hawaii over the past 2 months, another storm is now setting its sights a bit closer to home.
Tropical Storm Rachel is expected to impact Southern California and Baja this weekend, bringing intense rain and strong winds to the Los Angeles and San Diego regions.
As of late Thursday morning, Rachel was just below hurricane strength with maximum winds of 70 mph and located south of California. The National Hurricane Center forecasts Rachel to make landfall near Tijuana or just south late Saturday night as it merges with a trough set to cool temperatures this weekend.
In this forecast, flooding rains and gusting winds above 40 mph will extend well north into Southern California through Sunday. After that, the weakening storm will send strong winds and sporadic flooding through western Arizona and into Las Vegas., with rain making it all the way to the Salt Lake City area by Monday.
Thanks to the blistering pace it will take on Saturday, Tropical Storm #Rachel may just stay tropical all the way towards the San Diego-Tijuana area. Flooding and errosion is likely across Socal and into the Mjoave Sunday, especially in rugged terrain and along the coast. #cawx https://t.co/Q3QSr9cyXl
— Sean Macaday (@MacadayWX) October 8, 2026
Remarkably, thanks to how fast it will begin racing toward the California coast Saturday, the storm is now expected to maintain its tropical characteristics near landfall, meaning that Rachel could maintain its tight rotating core instead of emptying as a deluge of messy but still problematic showers. If it makes landfall in California near San Diego, it would be the first tropical storm to hit California since Sept. 25, 1939…