Folks living in Utah's Dixie won't need to "batten down the hatches" - but you'd be wise to patch up your umbrellas.
Nora's coming.Now pummeling Baja California, the Pacific hurricane, which was downgraded to a tropical storm Thursday, will likely take her last gasp in southern Utah.
No, Nora won't even be a tropical storm by the time she moves across towns like Moab and Kanab sometime early Friday.
"But we could see heavy rains in the southern part of the state," said William Alder of the National Weather Service, whose office has issued a flash flood warning for the area. "The winds shouldn't be a big deal, although it could be pretty gusty in the four-corners region."
Wet forecasts are nasty news in towns like Kanab, where almost a foot of rain has fallen in the past two months.
"Those places ain't going to take much more," said Alder. Heavy rain spikes are swelling the Virgin and Santa Clara rivers and filling dry washes throughout southern Utah.
Washington County Emergency Services Director Dean Cox picked up 15,000 sandbags in preparation for the remnants of Hurricane Nora. He has advised St. George-area residents in low areas or near washes, streams or rivers to contact their police or sheriff's office to see what they can do to prepare.
Nora won't see much of the Wasatch Front. An inch or less is expected in northern Utah over the next few days.
It's not unheard of for stubborn, September Pacific storms to climb into the Beehive State. In 1970, moist tropical air from Pacific storm Norma collided with a cold front from the Northwest - dumping 6 inches of rain in the four-corners area.Nora hit land Thursday about midway down the 800-mile-long Baja coastline. Sea swells were estimated at 12 feet and winds at 60 mph at Bahia Tortugas, a village on Punta Eugenia, according to one witness, Ruben Garcia.
Nora will likely move north up the Gulf of California, weakening as it approaches Arizona. Still, Nora could remain a full-fledged tropical storm when it hits America's Southwest, a rarity in the area.
Forecasters predicted up to 8 inches of rain for the Yuma, Ariz., region - double the area's average annual rainfall.
Arizona Gov. Jane Hull sent National Guard trucks, generators and trailers with potable water to Yuma. The Red Cross sent in a disaster team. "We want to be safe. We want to be ready," she said.