Hurricane Odile is coming to the Southwest

Remember this record rainfall in Phoenix from hurricane Norbert just last week?

I hope Phoenix has fixed its freeway pump stations, because it looks like you get to do it all again this week. Hurricane Odile has turned eastward and is heading up the Baja peninsula. Make your preparations now. Hurricane Odile Brings Life-Threatening Impacts to Baja:

Baja California Sur is in a dangerous situation as Odile will continue to bring life-threatening impacts, such as significant flooding and hurricane-force winds, through Tuesday.

Odile made landfall near Cabo San Lucas at 9:45 p.m. PDT on Sunday as a Category 3 hurricane. Odile had estimated winds of 200 kph (127 mph) at landfall. This ties a record for the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Baja California Sur during the satellite era, with Hurricane Olivia in 1967.

Southern portions of Baja California will continue to experience hurricane-force winds and torrential rainfall on Monday as Odile tracks northward.

Storm surge will become less of a concern moving forward as Odile weakens and tracks north over Baja California through midweek.

Currently, Hurricane Odile is a Category 2 hurricane located over southern Baja California Sur with maximum sustained winds of 185 kph (110 mph) and gusts as high as 225 kph (140 mph). The storm strengthened to a Category 4 early on Sunday morning, but weakened during the afternoon hours.

The southern half of Baja California will experience the worst conditions from Odile on Monday as 200-300 mm (8-12 inches) of rain floods the area. Significant flooding should be expected from the plethora of rain.

Sustained winds of 130-160 kph (80-100 mph) are expected with wind gusts approaching 201 kph (125 mph) and will cause widespread power outages and structural damage.

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While conditions begin to improve in Cabo San Lucas later Monday, life-threatening conditions will spread northward across central and northern Baja California Sur late Monday into Tuesday.

However, as the storm moves northward, impacts are expected to gradually lessen as Odile weakens due to further interaction with land.

Heavy rainfall will not be confined to Baja California as torrential downpours will extend into western Mexico.

Coastal regions of Sinaloa and Sonora will also experience locally heavy rainfall into Tuesday. Rainfall amounts of 50-100 mm (2-4 inches) are expected with locally higher amounts.

During the afternoon hours this week, heavy thunderstorms will develop along the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains. The downpours will produce a general 25 to 75 millimeters (1 to 3 inches) of rain with locally 150 millimeters (6 inches) along the western slopes of the mountains.

This amount of rain could trigger flash flooding and mudslides, especially since the region was just soaked by once-Hurricane Norbert.

Through the middle and into the end of the week as Odile continues to drift to the north, despite weakening, the door will open for its moisture to surge northward and bring flooding downpours back to the southwestern U.S.

Here is the 5 Day Weather Forecast for Tucson – weather.com.