Flash flood skyrockets for the Southwest US as Hurricane Rosa approaches Mexico

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Tropical storm warnings are in effect in parts of the Baja Peninsula, Mexico, prior to Hurricane Rosa. The storm, which is accelerating to the northeast, is expected to arrive Monday and head into the United States early next week. The storm will cause heavy rains in the southwestern states, potentially resulting in sudden floods in desert and mountainous areas.

Hurricane Rosa has already been a powerful storm, one of many such storms in the East Pacific this year that has exceeded expectations and has benefited from a favorable environment to reach its full potential. Rosa exploded earlier this week in a Category 4 hurricane, briefly reaching steady winds reaching 145 MPH before weakening.

The power of the storm was finally short-lived. Rosa took a sharp turn Friday and began to accelerate in a less favorable environment. Despite its growing rage, Rosa still has a formidable appearance on satellite imagery this weekend. Forecasters expect Rosa to weaken to a tropical storm as she reaches the shores of the Baja Peninsula on Monday, and will reach the Mexican mainland later that day.

While Rosa will lose its tropical characteristics inland, its humidity will remain in place. Heavy showers and thunderstorms over the southwest desert early in the week may result in flash floods in most of Arizona and neighboring states. Winds in southern Arizona could also cut down trees and cause sparse power outages, but the wind should not be as dangerous as heavy rains.

the Weather Prediction CenterThe Saturday night forecast showed that an extended area of ​​the southwest and Intermountain West could see more than a few inches of rain. Some higher regions of central Arizona could see several inches of rain from the storm. Not everyone will see the rain at the beginning of next week, but the ingredients will be there for the storms to form and sink into a relatively deep moisture reserve. The heaviest rains will fall in areas where thunderstorms occur, or storms that repeatedly move on the same areas.

This may not seem like a lot of rain in the big set of things, but the land that makes up the desert soil in the southwest causes most rains to simply flow rather than enter the land. This leads to a situation where heavy rains can easily cause flash floods. Flash flood monitoring stations are in effect early next week from northern Utah on the border between the United States and Mexico in California and Arizona. This instant flood watch includes the cities of Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City.

Despite its hot and arid climate, flash floods are quite common in the desert during the monsoon so that the region knows how to prepare and manage them. Arizona even a law on books"Nicknamed the stupid motorists law" – a way to deter people from putting themselves in dangerous situations. The law gives state authorities the opportunity to pursue charges that allow agencies to recover the cost of rescuing the motorist if they cross a flooded road and find themselves stranded.

The simplest way to prevent this – and something that should go without saying – is not to get into a flood. It is terribly easy to misjudge the depth and speed of the water flowing on a road. In the United States, more than half of flood deaths occur in vehicles, and it can take less than a foot of water to sweep a car downstream. Your life is not worth living and it is unfair to risk the lives of rescuers who need to find people brought in by the rising waters.

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Tropical storm warnings are in effect in parts of the Baja Peninsula, Mexico, prior to Hurricane Rosa. The storm, which is accelerating to the northeast, is expected to arrive Monday and head into the United States early next week. The storm will cause heavy rains in the southwestern states, potentially resulting in sudden floods in desert and mountainous areas.

Hurricane Rosa has already been a powerful storm, one of many such storms in the East Pacific this year that has exceeded expectations and has benefited from a favorable environment to reach its full potential. Rosa exploded earlier this week in a Category 4 hurricane, briefly reaching steady winds reaching 145 MPH before weakening.

The power of the storm was finally short-lived. Rosa took a sharp turn Friday and began to accelerate in a less favorable environment. Despite her growing disappointment, Rosa still looks great on satellite images this weekend. Forecasters expect Rosa to weaken to a tropical storm as she reaches the shores of the Baja Peninsula on Monday, and will reach the Mexican mainland later that day.

While Rosa will lose its tropical characteristics inland, its humidity will remain in place. Heavy showers and thunderstorms over the southwest desert early in the week may result in flash floods in most of Arizona and neighboring states. Strong winds in the southern part of Arizona could also bring down trees and cause power outages, but the wind should not be as dangerous as heavy rains.

Weather forecast forecast on Saturday night showed that an extended area in the southwest and Intermountain West could see more than a few inches of rain. Some higher regions of central Arizona could see several inches of rain from the storm. Not everyone will see the rain at the beginning of next week, but the ingredients will be there for the storms to form and sink into a relatively deep moisture reserve. The heaviest rains will fall in areas where thunderstorms occur, or storms that repeatedly move on the same areas.

This may not seem like a lot of rain in the big set of things, but the land that makes up the desert soil in the southwest causes most rains to simply flow rather than enter the land. This leads to a situation where heavy rains can easily cause flash floods. Flash flood monitoring stations are in effect early next week from northern Utah on the border between the United States and Mexico in California and Arizona. This instant flood watch includes the cities of Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City.

Despite its hot and arid climate, flash floods are quite common in the desert during the monsoon season, and the region knows how to prepare for it and deal with it. Arizona even has a law on books – dubbed the "stupid motorists law" – to deter people from putting themselves in dangerous situations. The law gives state authorities the opportunity to pursue charges that allow agencies to recover the cost of rescuing the motorist if they cross a flooded road and find themselves stranded.

The simplest way to prevent this – and something that should go without saying – is not to get into a flood. It is terribly easy to ignore the depth and speed of the water that crosses a road. In the United States, more than half of flood deaths occur in vehicles and it takes less than a quick water foot to sweep a car downstream. It's not worth it, and it's not fair to risk the lives of rescuers who need to recover people washed away by the rising waters.