Currently in Los Angeles — August 18, 2023: Hilary arrives on Saturday

The weather, currently.

A month and change on the job as newsletter writer and there’s already a historic tropical system heading towards Los Angeles. Sheesh. Hilary reached hurricane status on Thursday and as of 3PM mountain time yesterday had maximum sustained winds of 110 mph —flirting with Cat 3 status. As the storm continues to move north over the cooler waters above Cabo, however, it will weaken.

The initial rain bands from the storm will be within our forecast area as early as Saturday afternoon and evening. The heaviest rain looks like it will fall overnight Sunday into Monday during the day. Early predictions suggest 2-3 inches for more coastal sections, with 3-5+ inches in inland and in mountain regions. To put that in perspective, from May through Sep, Downtown L.A. normally gets around half an inch of rain in total. And further inland, arid and semi-arid locales like Palm Springs and Riverside will be dealing with unprecedented rainfall. But my next report before the start of the week will flesh out the timing of all of that.

Another thing to look at addition to the rain is the wind, with 30-50mph winds possible, strongest through mountain passes. Even once Hilary passes, unstable tropical air will be left in her wake, with a possibility of showers and thunderstorms in the interior sections of SoCal for the better part of the work week.

— Ade Adeniji

What you need to know, currently.

Canada’s hellish wildfire season keeps getting worse.

An evacuation order was announced on Wednesday for the entire city of Yellowknife (pop. 22,000), capital of the Northwest Territories as wildfires encroached from all sides. Yellowknife is one of the largest cities in Canada’s far north, and communications, power, and supplies have been difficult to obtain as fires continue to grow.

Residents must vacate the city by noon Friday, and cars and buses along with fuel tankers are being escorted by police through thick smoke on the last remaining open road out of town. Those in hospitals or otherwise needing extra care will be airlifted. It’s one of the largest evacuation efforts in Canadian history.

This is by far the worst wildfire season in Canada’s modern records — with about twice the normal total land area burned so far with still about half of the season remaining. More than 13 million hectares (30 million acres) have burned so far, about three times the size of Switzerland.

Cabin Radio, an independent publication based in Yellowknife, will have the latest updates through the weekend.

—Eric Holthaus

What you can do, currently.

The fires in Maui have struck at the heart of Hawaiian heritage, and if you’d like to support survivors, here are good places to start:

The fires burned through the capital town of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the ancestral and present home to native Hawaiians on their original unceded lands. One of the buildings destroyed was the Na ‘Aikane o Maui cultural center, a gathering place for the Hawaiian community to organize and celebrate.

If you’d like to help the community rebuild and restore the cultural center, a fund has been established that is accepting donations — specify “donation for Na ‘Aikane” on this Venmo link.