Weekly Wrap-Up: Flooding, Wildfires Ravage California; NASA Unveils Viral Photo of Earth From DSCOVR

July 24,2015; 9:40PM,EDT

 

 

It was an unusually active week across Southern California, as moisture from once-Hurricane Dolores brought record-setting rainfall.
San Diego and Downtown Los Angles set daily and monthly rainfall records for July on Saturday, July 18. San Diego received 1.02 inches of rain, breaking the previous mark of 0.92 of an inch from 1902. Los Angeles received 0.36 of an inch, besting the previous record of 0.24 of an inch set in 1886.
"Downtown Los Angeles and San Diego only average 0.01 of an inch and 0.03 of an inch, respectively, of rain each July," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski wrote.

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San Diego's 1.71 inches of rain through July 23 is 8,032 percent above normal for the month.
Elsewhere, the rain had damaging consequences. Five inches of rain fell in Desert Center, California, on Sunday, July 19, resulting in the collapse of a section of Interstate 10.
In this photo provided by the CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department, emergency crews respond after a pickup truck crashed into the collapse of an elevated section of Interstate 10, Sunday, July 19, 2015, in Desert Center, California. (Chief Geoff Pemberton/CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire via AP)
On Friday, July 17, a brush fire, later dubbed the North Fire, wreaked havoc by jumping Interstate 15 near Cajon Pass in San Bernardino County, California. The blaze shut down both northbound and southbound lanes of traffic as frightened motorists ran for safety. Twenty vehicles were destroyed on the highway, but fortunately no injuries were reported.
The fire burned 4,250 acres and is 100 percent contained. It destroyed seven homes, 16 outbuildings and 44 vehicles in the community of Baldy Mesa where mandatory evacuations had been ordered.
On Wednesday, the Wragg Fire developed in northern California, threatening homes in Napa and Solano countys and forcing evacuations.
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To the north, violent storms erupted across western Canada at midweek. Ominous videos and photos flooded social media as a funnel cloud whirled above Calgary, Alberta, on July 22.

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Meanwhile in the West Pacific, Halola developed into a typhoon at midweek while located well away from land. The storm's journey began back on July 10 when it formed southwest of Hawaii. As the storm weakens, it eyes parts of Japan and South Korea.
On Monday, NASA unveiled the first view of the sunlit side of Earth taken by the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite (DSCOVR).
Earth as seen from one million miles away on July 6, 2015. (Photo/NASA)
"This first DSCOVR image of our planet demonstrates the unique and important benefits of Earth observation from space," NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said in a statement. "As a former astronaut who's been privileged to view the Earth from orbit, I want everyone to be able to see and appreciate our planet as an integrated, interacting system. DSCOVR's observations of Earth, as well as its measurements and early warnings of space weather events caused by the sun, will help every person to monitor the ever-changing Earth, and to understand how our planet fits into its neighborhood in the solar system."
Several AccuWeather meteorologists and staff writers contributed content to this article.

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