Tropical Storm Kay breaks heat and rain records across Southern California in its sixth day of pounding rains
Tropical Storm Kay, a supercell storm packing a heavy rain and high temperature, broke over 6,800-plus-degree record across Southern California as it pounded Northern part of the state with record rains and temperatures on Thursday.
With the storm continuing to dump more than 6 inches of rain over the Los Angeles area, there were reports of a new record-breaking high for any storm in Los Angeles County. Over the past three days, the most rainfall in any 24-hour period in the city set the previous record of 13.19 inches, which was set at the storm’s peak intensity on Monday, August 9.
According to the National Weather Service, the strongest part of the storm was also record breaking heat for much of Southern California. The highest temperature recorded as of Thursday morning was 100 degrees with high humidity.
At this time, it looks like Tropical Storms Kay are still far outside what is considered a tropical depression, but even in this weak state, the storm has been an embarrassment for many in Southern California, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Tony Pierce.
“[T]he rainfall is so impressive. We get rain, then it’s hot, then it’s wind,” he said. “You basically have a week of all of these things coming together.”
According to the National Weather Service, the average rainfall for this time of year is around 3.3 inches, however, the rainfall in Southern California is only around 2.2 inches. As soon as the sun came out on Wednesday, it brought another opportunity for a record setting high temperature.
“It’s going to be another record,” Pierce said over the phone. He added that the temperature was expected to reach 96 degrees with a high humidity.
Throughout the day, the rain kept trickling down at a slow pace as it continues to pound Northern California. As of 12 p.m. Thursday, the rainfall totals from the storm were already surpassing over 8 inches in various areas. There was a rain gauge station in Sylmar that registered another record-breaking 9.15 inches, which came just hours before the storm’s heaviest rainfall from the San Gabriel Mountains to Santa Clarita.
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