Weekly Wrap-Up: Heat Stifles Western US; Nora Sets Record for Central Pacific Tropical Activity

By Kevin Byrne, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

October 17,2015; 8:46PM,EDT

 

 

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This week felt like summer across much of the western U.S. despite fall being several weeks old.
Record highs were challenged from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Sacramento, California. Downtown Los Angeles had the mercury reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit from Friday, Oct. 9 to Sunday, Oct. 11. The last time such a streak occurred was in 1989. It was also the first three-day stretch of triple-digit heat for the city in October since 1958.
Death Valley, California, set a new daily record of 107 F on Tuesday, breaking the record of 105 F established in 1971.

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Heavy rain in Southern California triggered flash flooding and mudslides on Thursday, leaving motorists stranded and forcing the closure of major roadways, including Interstate 5 on the Grapevine.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department said it responded to multiple rescues due to the storms.
More than 8,700 Southern California Edison customers lost power, the utility reported Thursday evening.
A record-setting year for tropical activity in the central Pacific continued as Tropical Storm Nora roamed the waters after developing in the eastern Pacific last weekend.
Nora became the record 14th tropical system, either a storm, depression or hurricane, to enter the basin this season. The storm never reached hurricane status and weakened to a depression on Wednesday.
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Two tropical cyclones spun in the western Pacific this week as Koppu became a typhoon and Champi strengthened into a tropical storm. As Koppu grew in strength, the Philippines prepared for potentially life-threatening flooding from the storm.
The city of Miami Beach experienced higher-than-normal tides late last week, which forced road closures due to flooding. The high tide rose a foot higher than the National Weather Service predicted.
"It is still unclear what caused the unusually high tides late last week since the weather was calm and the astronomical highest tides occurred during the recent supermoon, AccuWeather Meteorologist Brian Lada stated.
An enormous waterspout made its way onto land in Tampa Bay, Florida, on Sunday and tore apart a mail truck sending mail everywhere. The driver managed to escape. However, that wasn't the only notable waterspout sighting this week.
As strong thunderstorms rolled through Michigan's upper peninsula on Thursday, one nature photographer was able to capture this striking image of a waterspout on Lake Superior.
A waterspout twirled over the open waters of Lake Superior on Thursday as severe storms rolled through the area. (Twitter user/@grafnaturephoto)
On Thursday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a state of disaster for Bastrop County, Texas, in response to the destructive Hidden Pines Fire which has been burning since Oct. 13.
The fire prompted evacuations and destroyed at least nine homes. Firefighting crews dumped over 110,000 gallons of water on the fire on Wednesday.

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Several AccuWeather meteorologists and staff writers contributed content to this article.

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