The storm, which isn't expected to still be a hurricane by the time it reaches California, is forecast to bring heavy rain to the southwestern U.S.
"It is rare — indeed nearly unprecedented in the modern record — to have a tropical system like this move through Southern California," Postel told CBS News.
The last time Southern California was hit by a tropical storm was in 1939, before storms were given names, CBS News senior weather and climate producer David Parkinson said. Several storms that had been hurricanes or tropical storms have impacted the state since then, but they had weakened to sub-tropical systems by that time, Parkinson noted.
The projected path of the storm showed it could make landfall anywhere from the Baja California Peninsula to as far north as Santa Barbara, California. One model showed the heaviest rain hitting the Palm Springs area after the storm makes landfall.
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