Hurricane Hilary is being hailed as a historic storm after becoming the first tropical storm to hit California since Sept. 24, 1939. The storm has had a large impact on the region - in addition to gusty winds, Hilary’s rains have resulted in widespread flooding, landslides, washed out roads and numerous other closures. Like most East Pacific tropical cyclones, Hilary originated from a westward propagating tropical wave that crossed over Central America from the western Caribbean into the eastern Pacific. Known as “African easterly waves”, these are the same waves that emerge off the coast of
