Tropical Storm Kay breaks heat and rain records across Southern California
Updated at 2:29 p.m. ET
The storm that brought down the iconic palm tree, which was blown about 200 yards by winds of more than 120 mph, left much of Southern California sizzling and the remnants still dumping rainfall on the region Monday.
The National Weather Service had issued an orange-out storm warning for a broad swath of the state, including San Diego County, from the Mexican border north to the Oregon line, and even into the northernmost reaches of Northern California.
It was the first time the state had issued an orange-out warning since the 2005 hurricane season, which, as meteorologists say, is the time hurricane season starts. That, meteorologists say, means a storm is on the way.
“It’s kind of like the early stages of a hurricane,” said meteorologist Tom Knutson. “You can’t really make a prediction until the storm has developed into a hurricane.”
The National Weather Service warned that the storm was expected to develop slowly over Southern California, with the chance of a major impact as storm cells moved northwest.
The National Weather Service in Oxnard had issued an orange-out warning for San Diego County.
Forecasters used a combination of computer models and data from the National Hurricane Center to determine that the main threat of the storm would occur in the morning across Southern California, said meteorologist Bob Hager.
The storm came ashore early Monday in Ventura County. The storm dropped rain on the Ventura County area, moving from the coasts inland as it went about 30 mph across the state.
“It was just a beautiful sunny day, which is rare for San Diego County,” Ventura County Mayor Liz Knapp said. “All our streets are dry, so it was a happy day.”
The rain poured down as well, and there was even a flash flood on a road in Thousand Oaks, which was just an hour from the coast.
In Los Angeles-area neighborhoods, there were no reports of life-threatening rainfall, but heavy downpours and flash floods were reported on the coastal mountains.
Hager said some of the rainfall was associated with a high-end ridge moving across