Hurricane might send rain and thunderstorms to SLO County
In the latest example of weather whiplash, San Luis Obispo County could go from days of near record-breaking heat to thunderstorms by the end of the week.
That’s thanks to Hurricane Kay, which is expected to travel up the Baja California peninsula at the end of the week, bringing with it “a big slug of monsoon moisture moving up the coastline,” according to meteorologist John Lindsey.
Though the chance is still small as weather models vary, the system could bring rain and even thunderstorms to the Central Coast on Saturday and Sunday, Lindsey said.
“Through all my decades doing this, a long extended heat wave is usually broken by rain,” Lindsey told The Tribune last week at the start of the multi-day heat wave still impacting much of the state.
On Monday, Lindsey said on Twitter that more than a half inch of rain could hit the Central Coast by Sunday, according to the latest models, although “confidence is low” in the forecast’s ultimate accuracy.
Lindsey cautioned that with thunderstorms comes the risk of lightning strikes, which could spark dangerous wildfires in areas that have been too long without water.
“It’s a double-edged sword,” he said. “Rain is great, but threat of lightning is no good.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2022 at 12:00 PM.
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