Gissella Cecibel Molina doesn’t know if she will lose her right eye, which was injured last week when her colleague and friend, presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, was assassinated in front of her as they left a political rally in Ecuador’s capital, Quito.

“As he (Villavicencio) approached the car, there was a man with a flag around his neck that said ‘Fernando Villavicencio for President.’ The man ran around the car to the other side, pulled out a gun and started shooting,” she said.

The last thing Molina remembered before passing out was Villavicencio shaking as bullets hit him in the head, she said. “I then felt like something hit me in the face and fell to the floor. When I regained consciousness, I could still hear gunshots and there were many people injured around me,” she added.

The brutal murder of Villavicencio, an outspoken anti-corruption candidate and former investigative journalist, has shaken the country ahead of this Sunday’s crucial presidential and legislative elections. It has also brought international attention to the powerful criminal organizations driving the violence that has plagued Ecuador.

The suspected shooter died in police custody, officials said, while six Colombian nationals were arrested in connection with the killing. The suspects are members of organized criminal groups, said Ecuador’s Interior Minister Juan Zapata, citing preliminary evidence.

Several other politicians have been assassinated this year. On Monday, a left-wing local party official, Pedro Briones, was shot dead in Esmeraldas province, officials said. Last month, Agustin Intriago, the mayor of Ecuador’s sixth largest city Manta, was shot dead alongside a young athlete he was talking with on the street, and in May, candidate-elect Walker Vera was murdered just before he was going to take office in the city of Muisne, Esmeraldas province.

Cartel violence

The dire situation is a stark change from a decade ago, when Ecuador was known as a relatively safe country in the region. According to figures by the Ecuadorian National Police, the murder rate in 2016 was 5.8 homicides per 100,000 people. By last year, it had spiked to 25.6, a similar level to that of Colombia and Mexico, countries with a long history of drug cartel violence.

Now, foreign syndicates like Mexican cartels, Brazilian urban gangs, and even Albanian mafia cells are working with local Ecuadorian criminal groups to fuel the ongoing conflict, say analysts. A report published in March by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime said “traffickers from the Balkans and members of Italian crime groups have set up in Ecuador to establish supply lines to European markets.”

Drug money has helped fuel corruption in the country, said the presidential candidate Topic. “All of that cocaine and all of that heroine that comes into the country helps to finance the corruption of politicians, cops, soldiers, judges and district attorneys,” he said.

“By the very fact that we’re not controlling our borders, we’re getting an influx of money that is literally corrupting the country,” Topic added.

Tackling crime has been high on the political agenda in the runup to this year’s snap poll, even more so since Villavicencio’s assassination. Political candidates have scrambled in the past week to reemphasize their approach to the problem.

Topic, a businessman who has had a stint fighting with the French Foreign Legion, has been described as the “Ecuadorian [Nayib] Bukele” – in reference to the Salvadorean president known for his iron first strategy against criminal gangs.

The 36-year-old environmentalist stressed that she wants to change Ecuador for the better. “I want this country to be a place of peace, a productive country… I believe Ecuador is a paradise and they have turned it into hell,” she said, referring to criminal groups and corrupt politicians.

During a televised presidential debate on Sunday, election frontrunner Luisa González said she would strengthen Ecuador’s security forces and intelligence systems.

González, who is from the Citizen Revolution Movement party, the political coalition of former leftist President Rafael Correa, also discussed restarting a joint intelligence task force with Colombia. “I’ve already had conversations with European ambassadors from the European Union with the Colombian President [Gustavo Petro] and we will restore security for all of you, Ecuadorian families,” she said.

Molina, who is a veterinarian, now risks becoming partially blind from last week’s attack, but she remains defiant. “We are not going to be subdued by mafiosos, corrupt politicians who want to be elected to the assembly, the Latin Kings, the [Mexican] Zetas [cartel], the Albanians that are now operating in the country, extortionists, kidnappers and all those terrorizing the population,” she said.

Despite her injury, she still plans to run in the August 20 elections, insisting that she wants to ensure justice is served.

Beaches officially opened for swimming in Ukraine’s largest port city of Odesa for the first time since the Russian invasion began in February 2022, local officials announced Saturday.

Bathing during air raid alerts, however, remains banned in the Black Sea city.

Odesa has seen relentless waves of Russian attacks over the last 17 months, filling the waters with sea mines and leading officials to close the stretch of sandy beaches and holiday resorts once popular with Ukrainian and foreign holidaymakers.

However, despite officially banning swimming since the start of the war, some people have continued to do so.

The city’s beaches were further tarnished in June when filthy waters from the collapse of the Russia-controlled Nova Kakhovka dam washed downstream, posing what the Odesa municipality described as a “genuine threat” to the health of residents.

Head of the Odesa region military administration, Oleh Kiper, said several “swimming and recreation areas” would open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in a post on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday, adding more beaches would open up as inspections were completed.

Kiper said lifeboats and mesh fences to protect against explosive ordnance would be required in open swimming areas, adding divers would be sent to inspect the Black Sea waters if necessary. Daily coastal cleaning would also take place, he said.

Oleksandr, a lifeguard and a former diver who gave only his first name, told Reuters that an anti-mine net was placed in between two piers to prevent swimmers encountering shallow-water mines.

“The net will stop them. And they (mines) will also be visible from the shore under such weather conditions. Emergency workers will be notified, they will come to handle it,” he said.

In a Telegram post, Odesa’s municipality said air raid shelters were available nearby the reopened swimming spots, with shelter locations indicated on information boards at the beaches.

But while Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov said it was the administration’s responsibility “to prepare all the necessary infrastructure,” he added, “In my personal opinion, beach vacations – as recreation – are a bit out of time while our defenders are fighting for every meter of Ukrainian land.”

Despite being cautious, residents have welcomed the move as a distraction from the war.

“I want to swim at last and distract myself,” Yevhen, a student from Mykolaiv whose school was shelled and who went to Odesa for a short vacation, told Reuters. “I don’t want to think about the war and bad things. I dont want to think about it.”

“I have been dreaming of going to the beach and inhaling salty air. We have been missing it a lot. But safety is a top priority,” Svitlana, a resident of the Odesa region, told Reuters.

Odesa still remains a Russian target. At least 25 architectural monuments, including a historic Orthodox cathedral, were destroyed in the region in an intense wave of attacks by Russia near the end of July. Russian strikes last week damaged a critical port facility and key industrial infrastructure in the city.

Russian officials say multiple missiles were shot down over the crucial bridge connecting the annexed Crimea to the mainland on Saturday, the latest in a series of apparent Ukrainian attacks in the region.

The bridge is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s pet projects and has frequently been targeted as a hated symbol of occupation.

Two Ukrainian missiles were shot down on Saturday afternoon, the Russia-appointed Head of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov wrote in a post on Telegram, adding that the bridge was undamaged.

An update from Aksyonov said later Saturday that another Ukrainian missile had been shot down in the area.

“Another enemy missile was shot down over the Kerch Strait. Thank you to our air defense troops for their high professionalism and vigilance!” Aksyonov wrote on Telegram.

Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the Russian-appointed Head of Crimea, said special services put up a “smoke screen,” which are used to conceal any damage caused.

Russia’s defense ministry also said earlier Saturday that its forces had destroyed 20 Ukrainian drones launched at the peninsula overnight.

‘Barbaric’

Following the attempted strikes, Russia’s foreign ministry condemned Ukraine for what it described as a “terrorist attack.”

“The Crimean bridge is an object of purely civilian infrastructure, attacks on which are unacceptable. It has been subjected to such attacks since the autumn of last year, which also led to the death of civilians,” Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

“Such barbaric actions cannot be justified and will not go unanswered,” Zakharova continued.

Meanwhile, traffic has resumed on the Crimean bridge, according to the Crimean bridge operative information Telegram account, after it was temporarily blocked.

The Crimean bridge is a vital artery for supplying Russia’s war on Ukraine, allowing people and goods to flow into the Ukrainian territories that Moscow has occupied in the south and east of the country.

Also known as the Kerch Bridge, it holds personal value for Russian President Vladimir Putin. In the Kremlin narrative it marks the “reunification” of Crimea with the Russian mainland.

In October, the bridge was partially destroyed when a fuel tanker exploded and damaged a large section of the road. The Kremlin was quick to blame Kyiv for that explosion, and Putin alleged that it was an act of “sabotage” by Ukrainian security services.

Last week the head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) Vasyl Maliuk said that any explosions that happen to Russian ships or the Crimean bridge are “an absolutely logical and effective step.”

Maliuk said that if the Russians wanted such explosions to stop “they have the only option to do so – to leave the territorial waters of Ukraine and our land.”

When Tescha Hawley received her breast cancer diagnosis at age 46, she was raising two young children on her own and working full time for the federal government.

She and her family lived on the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana where she grew up. The lifesaving treatment she needed several times a month was at a hospital more than 200 miles away – a three-hour drive.

Hawley, a member of the Gros Ventre tribe, has two master’s degrees, one in social work and the other in health administration. Yet the challenges she had to navigate to receive the care she needed were daunting.

“You get caught up in the emotions and are not thinking logically,” Hawley said. “The only thing that I could think of was, “Am I going to die?”

Native Americans in the United States have the lowest life expectancy and the highest rate of death in many categories of preventable illness.

“As American Indian people, we represent the highest (rates) of everything – diabetes, heart disease, cancer – and we receive the poorest health care,” Hawley said.

After her experience, Hawley was inspired to help other cancer patients and their families living on the reservation. She founded the Day Eagle Hope Project in 2017, and her nonprofit has since expanded to address many other needs of Native Americans in her community.

Navigating hurdles for lifesaving cancer care

The Indian Health Service (IHS), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, is tasked with providing federal health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives. But Hawley says the agency is underfunded, services are inconsistent, and equipment can be dated.

In Hawley’s case, she says she experienced delays in treatment while dealing with a complicated system of healthcare providers, insurance, and approvals. She also had to drive more than 400 miles roundtrip to and from Billings, Montana, for chemo and radiation treatment that she spent a year receiving.

“The cost of hotel, food, and gas is huge, and it’s a financial burden for everybody,” Hawley said. “We’ve seen the wind chills get below 50-below, and we had 10-foot drifts in some areas. For me, a few times after receiving treatment, we would get halfway home and have to turn around because it was blizzard conditions.”

As a single mother, Hawley ultimately took leave without pay to complete her treatment. She says she had $250 dollars in her checking account when she finished treatment and was grateful to family and friends who supported her through the process. She knew others on her reservation battling cancer who didn’t have that kind of support.

“I had been in remission for two months and I pulled out my computer and that’s when Day Eagle Hope Project was started,” said Hawley, whose daughter was 9 at the time. “Her Cree name in English translates to Day Eagle Woman. This was formed in honor of her and all of our young women, so they will be strong and help our people in a good way.”

In the beginning, Hawley’s family loaned their time and vehicles for transportation. Hawley and her aunt drove cancer patients to and from treatment, and Hawley provided gift cards for gas, food, and hotels for those in need on her reservation, where many live below the poverty level and lack transportation and cell phone service. She also offered support workshops to connect anyone with medical hardships to available services.

“Cancer affects every one of us,” she said. “Cancer affects your mental health, it affects your spiritual well-being, it affects your entire family. We take great pride in being able to help everybody, not just tribal people, but also non-Indian people.”

Sustaining families, lifting spirits

As she focused on patient navigation, Hawley says she saw a need to address food insecurity as well. Residents in her community are living in a food desert and access to fresh and healthy food is scarce.

“We have so many grandparents raising grandchildren, and many generations of families are living in one household unit. It’s not uncommon for three and four families to be residing in one dwelling,” Hawley said.

Hawley began doing fresh food deliveries, acquiring organic foods from local farmers to distribute across the reservation, which encompasses 650,000 acres of the plains and grasslands of north-central Montana.

In addition to lean organic beef and fruits and vegetables, she’s also incorporated a program to provide fresh buffalo meat to the community. Done in a culturally respectful way, veterans are given the honor of harvesting the buffalo.

“Our ancestors prayed that our buffalo would sustain us. And that’s exactly what’s happening today with our non-profit work,” Hawley said. “We’ve joined in collaboration with our tribe to give back to our community.”

After each harvest, thousands of pounds of organic, lean meat are distributed to communities across the reservation, feeding hundreds of families who are often struggling.

Hawley also runs programs to address crisis and chemical addiction and offers equine therapy to at-risk youth as a suicide prevention effort. In the winter, with temperatures dipping into the negative 50’s with wind chill, Hawley brings firewood to Native elders.

Hawley estimates she’s helped about 3,000 people not only on her reservation but from neighboring tribes as well.

“Prior to my diagnosis of cancer, I thought my life was based on my professional career and my education,” Hawley said. “I still strongly believe education is our key out of poverty, but now I know that this is my calling.”

Want to get involved? Check out the Day Eagle Hope Project website and see how to help

To donate to the Day Eagle Hope Project via GoFundMe, click here

Novak Djokovic won his first singles match on American soil since 2021 as Alejandro Davidovich Fokina was forced to retire during their second-round contest at the Western & Southern Open.

Djokovic had taken the first set 6-4 on Wednesday when Davidovich Fokina, who had taken a medical timeout in the first set, retired with a back injury.

He will now face another 36-year-old – Frenchman Gaël Monfils – in the third round in Cincinnati as he steps up his preparation for the US Open.

“He’s playing as good as ever. He’s a year older than me,” Djokovic said about Thursday’s match against Monfils, who turns 37 on September 1.

“Everybody talks about my age, but what about him?! He’s doing amazing, so it’s going to be a duel of the veterans tomorrow, I guess.”

The Serbian is unvaccinated against Covid-19 and has been unable to enter the US for the past two years.

However, the country’s vaccine requirements for non-US travelers were lifted earlier this year, enabling Djokovic to compete in Cincinnati.

His last singles match in the United States prior to Wednesday’s victory was at the 2021 US Open when he lost to Daniil Medvedev in the final.

Asked about his absence from US tournaments since then, Djokovic told reporters on August 13: “The reason why I was not here for two years, I have zero regret on that. I’m just glad to be back.”

He broke Davidovich Fokina at 3-4 after the Spaniard had returned from his medical timeout, only to be broken back the following game.

But Djokovic wrapped up the set soon after, whipping a forehand past the Iberian while his opponent was stranded at the net.

Two points into the second set, the world No. 23 pulled up in pain and swiped his racket in frustration before retiring from the match.

“I hope Alejandro bounces back to the court quickly [and] recovers from his lower back injury – that’s what he told me at the net,” said Djokovic.

“It’s never the way you like to win, I think for the crowd as well. Coming in, they expect to see a battle, they expect to see a match. Of course, it’s great for me to be able to come back to the court and win a match. Obviously, mixed emotions with the way it finished.”

Djokovic is looking to win his third title at the Western & Southern Open, his last coming in 2020 when the tournament was held in New York City amid the pandemic.

The atmosphere was buzzing for Stefanos Tsitsipas’ second-round match at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati – though more in an annoying way for the Greek tennis star.

Tsitsipas said that he was antagonized by a “person imitating a bee” in the seats behind him during his match against American Ben Shelton on Wednesday.

“It’s a buzz right before I serve,” Tsitsipas told the umpire after abandoning a serve mid-action.

The world No. 4 then went to have a word with the spectator himself before returning to speak with the umpire.

“It’s never happened in my career,” he said. “I know they’re supporting the other [player] … It’s the lady over there, I want her out.”

Tsitsipas, to his credit, managed to stay calm throughout the various exchanges and went on to defeat the 20-year-old Shelton 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2).

However, he then lost 6-3 6-4 against Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in the third round on Thursday, ending his bid to win a first title in Cincinnati having reached the final last year.

The Western & Southern Open is staged each year ahead of the US Open, which gets underway on August 28 and runs until September 9.

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Tyrie Cleveland and defensive lineman Moro Ojomo both have “movement in all extremities,” the team announced Thursday after both suffered neck injuries on separate plays.

The incident occurred during the Eagles’ NFL preseason home game against the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland fell hard on his head and neck area after hauling in a catch from quarterback Tanner McKee in the third quarter.

Cleveland remained on his stomach for several minutes after the play while being attended to by the team’s medical staff.

The Eagles medical personnel proceeded to place Cleveland on a stretcher, and he was carted off the field.

Players from both teams could be seen gathering around the cart as it took Cleveland off the field.

In a statement on social media, the Eagles ruled Cleveland out with a neck injury but said he had “movement in all of his extremities.”

In the fourth quarter, Ojomo was also taken off the field on a stretcher after being struck in the neck area by teammate Tristin McCollum while the duo attempted to tackle Browns quarterback Kellen Mond.

Ojomo, who was drafted in the seventh-round by the Eagles in this year’s draft, gave a thumbs-up and waved as he was being carted off the field.

The Eagles also ruled out Ojomo with a neck injury and said he too had “movement in all of his extremities.”

The game ended in an 18-18 tie.

The yips: two words that strike fear into the hearts of every golfer.

For Lucas Glover, it was a terror that tormented him for years.

An involuntary muscle tension in the wrist, the yips are not exclusive to golf, but the term – popularized by legendary Scotsman Tommy Armour in the 1920s – has become synonymous with a spasm that can cripple the swing of even the game’s biggest stars.

Ernie Els, Danielle Kang, Bernhard Langer and Georgia Hall are just four major winners who have battled the yips – also referred to as “the staggers” or “whiskey fingers” – which is primarily associated with putting issues.

In 2009, Glover was crowned US Open champion and became the world’s 15th best-ranked golfer. Six years and a case of the yips later, the American had plummeted to world No. 634.

“The closer you get to the hole, the worse it becomes.”

Help

Glover steadily rebounded, climbing back to within touching distance of the top-100 by the start of 2023, but his green statistics continued to make for eye-watering reading.

Despite being among the best golfers in approach play, Glover sat at 189th for putting strokes gained (-.568) and 187th for putts per round (29.83) in the 2021/22 PGA Tour season. It was time to call in help, and that support arrived in the shape of former Navy SEAL Jason Kuhn.

An NCAA Division 1 baseball player, Kuhn had harbored dreams of playing in Major League Baseball (MLB) before the yips struck, leading him to throw six wild pitches in one inning, close to an NCAA record. Hopes of the MLB faded, with Kuhn joining the Navy shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Today, he is a mental skills and team culture coach, working with business leaders and athletes, including those battling the yips. His clientbase included MLB pitcher Tyler Matzek, who Kuhn helped to conquer a catastrophic yips issue to win a World Series with the Atlanta Braves in 2021.

Having first met with Kuhn in May, Glover began to work with the ex-Navy SEAL shortly after. It brought about a change in equipment – the 43-year-old switched to a long, broom-style putter – and a change in mindset.

“He walked me through a process about how to attack it instead of being scared of it,” Glover said.

“It freed my brain, my mind and my stroke up … it’s actually become fun again to go practice, to go play, to actually putt instead of being fearful. It’s been a life-changer for me so far.

“I never lost too much faith and always thought if I could just figure out a way to beat this putting thing that I’d be back where I could be.”

Faith

The results were immediate and extraordinary.

Having missed the cut at five of his first six PGA Tour events to open the year, Glover has finished inside the top-six on all but one of his last six starts, including back-to-back wins at the Wyndham Championship and FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Suddenly, he’s a six-time PGA Tour winner and, at world No. 30, racing towards his career-best position, targeting a remarkable hat-trick at the BMW Championship in Illinois this week.

A golfer once scared to putt is now the game’s most in-form player. For some in his position, that might have seemed like a pipe dream, but for the “mentally stubborn” Glover, a renaissance was always on the cards.

“I told myself a long time ago when I started, if I ever lost faith in myself and my ability, that’d be the time to retire or just quit,” said Glover, who is still working with Kuhn.

“Never lose faith, never lose hope … it’s up to us as individuals to be happy and we can control that ourselves. It doesn’t depend on anybody else to make us happy or to tell us we can do something.”

Ryder Cup calling

If he keeps up the momentum, Glover is hoping to play himself into the thoughts of US Ryder Cup captain – and close friend – Zach Johnson.

Though lacking the points to qualify as an automatic pick, Glover could see his dreams of playing a first ever Ryder Cup realized if Johnson selects him as one of six captain’s picks for Rome in September.

“Ever since I’ve turned pro, it was one of my goals and I’ve never achieved it,” Glover said.

“This is the closest I’ve been to being in the mix for a pick or even making it outright for about 10, 12 years.

“I’m excited about the opportunity and it’s in my hands – I’ve got two weeks to keep proving myself and make the decision easy … It doesn’t mean I necessarily have to win, but just show the consistency, the grit, and just keep putting my name up there.”

Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark and Patrick Cantlay have already stamped their tickets for Italy, with the remaining three automatic places – currently held by Brian Harman, Brooks Koepka and Max Homa – to be confirmed after the BMW Championship.

On August 29, all attention will turn to the home of the PGA of America in Frisco, Texas, where Johnson will announce the six picks chosen to help Team USA try to win on European soil for the first time in 20 years.

Glover has a perfect record at the Presidents Cup, triumphing in 2007 and 2009, with Johnson his teammate at both tournaments. The Presidents Cup is a biennial competition between Americans and an international team open to players outside the United States and Europe.

“Making a team representing your country as an athlete is the highest honor,” Glover said.

“Not being a part of it [the Ryder Cup] always kind of urged me on a little bit, to be honest. I would love to do it.”

Editor’s Note: Read our coverage of Hurricane Hilary for Friday here.

Hurricane Hilary is rapidly intensifying in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Mexico on Thursday and is on track to deliver potentially significant rain and flooding to parts of the Southwest as a weaker system starting this weekend.

Hilary strengthened into a major Category 3 hurricane Thursday evening with sustained winds of 120 mph and even stronger gusts, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm will likely reach Category 4 hurricane strength on Friday with winds of at least 130 mph, the center warned.

The hurricane was about 445 miles south of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Thursday evening.

There remains a wide range of outcomes for the heaviest rain and strongest winds in the US as the storm moves north over the next couple of days along Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. Small deviations in the hurricane’s track could change the forecast for the most intense rain and wind.

Hilary’s rainfall could arrive as early as Saturday in parts of the Southwest, with the worst of its impacts set to arrive in California early Monday.

Shifts in the forecast track will also affect which areas of northwestern Mexico will face the worst of Hilary’s winds, which will be strong enough to snap trees, down power lines and cause significant damage to property closest to the storm’s center.

Mudslides and flash flooding are possible from a general 3 to 6 inches of rain across Mexico’s Baja Peninsula from Thursday to early Monday, with greater amounts possible in the higher terrain.

Significant flood potential

Hilary is expected to weaken significantly before it reaches Southern California and parts of the Southwest, but there’s an increasing chance of significant impacts to these areas in the form of heavy rain and flooding.

Southern California could receive some of Hilary’s heaviest rainfall. Widespread rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches may fall there and in southern Nevada from Saturday through Monday. The heaviest rainfall is expected mainly Sunday and Monday. Locally higher amounts up to 6 inches are possible in areas impacted by the heaviest deluges.

Rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches are possible for parts of Arizona, Central California and northern Nevada.

Multiple days of heavy rainfall will give the ground little opportunity to absorb moisture and can progressively worsen the flood threat.

Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California at Los Angeles, said Wednesday that “multiple years’ worth of precipitation” could potentially fall in some of California’s driest areas.

One of those places is Death Valley, California, the hottest place on Earth. Death Valley typically receives about 2 inches of rain across an entire year, according to NWS data. Moisture from Hilary could unleash enough rain to give Death Valley at least a year’s worth of rainfall in a single day.

Rainfall this exceptional proved destructive in Death Valley last year. Around 1,000 people became stranded in Death Valley National Park last August when 1.46 inches of rain fell in 24 hours and unleashed flash flooding that washed away roads and entombed cars in floodwater-swept debris.

Dramatic weather changes for suffering Southwest

Despite the flooding danger, the rainfall would help combat drought and recharge groundwater across parched portions of the Southwest. Drought conditions expanded in New Mexico and remained steady in California and Arizona this week, the US Drought Monitor reported Thursday.

The seasonal monsoon that supplies the region with a large percentage of its yearly rainfall has been missing for much of the summer, and cities like Phoenix are still waiting for measurable rainfall.

The combination of rainfall and increased cloud cover across the Southwest is expected to bring a significant cooldown over the weekend. Temperatures that have been in the upper 90s to 110s could drop by as much as 20 degrees.

Phoenix may not reach a high temperature in the triple digits over the weekend for the first time since the middle of June.

Hilary may accomplish rare feat

Hilary is more likely to make landfall in Mexico and cross into California. But if the storm makes landfall in California as a tropical storm, it would be the first to do so in nearly 84 years, and only the third tropical storm or stronger to do so on record, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The most recent was an unnamed tropical storm in 1939, NOAA records show.

Before that, the San Diego Hurricane made landfall in October 1858 – California’s only hurricane landfall on record, research shows.

1997’s Nora was the last and only other tropical storm to maintain its status after crossing into California.

The current forecast also calls for Hilary to maintain its tropical status as it heads into Nevada, something that has never happened on record.

Hurricane Hilary has intensified into a Category 4 storm as it nears Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, yet is expected to weaken over the weekend as it brings rain and the threat of flooding to parts of the Southwest US.

Hilary was churning about 425 miles south of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, early Friday morning with sustained winds of 140 mph with stronger gusts, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane Thursday evening and could further intensify Friday morning. Hilary is forecast to remain at Category 4 strength going into Saturday and then begin to weaken throughout the day as it enters much colder waters to the west of the peninsula.

Hilary’s center is on track to approach the peninsula on Friday and over the weekend, prompting Mexican officials to issue a hurricane watch and tropical storm watches and warnings for parts of Baja California Sur, the hurricane center said.

There remains a wide range of outcomes for the heaviest rain and strongest winds in the US as the storm moves north over the next couple of days. Small deviations in the hurricane’s track could change the forecast for the most intense rain and wind.

“The threat of significant wind impacts continues to increase for northern portions of the Baja California Peninsula and the Southwestern United States, especially in areas of mountainous terrain,” the hurricane center said Thursday night.

Flash flooding and mudslides may also be triggered by downpours in parts of the peninsula from late Friday into Sunday.

Hilary is expected to produce rainfall amounts of 3 to 6 inches, with isolated maximum amounts up to 10 inches, across portions of the Baja California peninsula through Sunday night. In addition, a storm surge could produce coastal flooding along the western part of the peninsula and will be accompanied by large and destructive waves.

Southwest braces for possible flooding

Hilary is expected to substantially weaken before reaching Southern California and parts of the Southwest but there’s an increasing chance the regions will be significantly impacted by heavy rain and flooding.

Heavy rainfall is expected to begin impacting the Southwest on Friday and through early next week, with the most intense downpours likely on Sunday and Monday, according to forecasters.

Southern swaths of California and Nevada could see 3 to 5 inches of rain with isolated amounts of up to 10 inches. Smaller amounts of 1 to 3 inches are expected across central parts of those states as well as across western Arizona and southwest Utah.

Prolonged rain may oversaturate the ground and overwhelm waterways, potentially worsening the flood threat.

Weekend flood watches have been issued across southern California stretching from San Diego to Los Angeles as residents brace for potential deluges.

The National Weather Service in Los Angeles has also warned of the potential for dangerously high surf, rip currents and coastal flooding.

If Hilary makes landfall in California as a tropical storm, it will be a rare occurrence – the first such storm there in nearly 84 years and would be only the third tropical storm or stronger to do so on record, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Parched Southwest may see brief relief

As the rainfall passes through the Southwest, it may help combat prolonged drought and recharge depleted groundwater.

Drought conditions persisted in California and Arizona this week and expanded in New Mexico, the US Drought Monitor reported Thursday.

Thanks to Hilary, “multiple years’ worth of precipitation could potentially fall in some of the driest parts of California,” Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California at Los Angeles, said Wednesday.

Among those spots is Death Valley, California, the hottest place on Earth. Death Valley typically receives about 2 inches of rain across an entire year, according to NWS data. Moisture from Hilary could unleash enough rain to give Death Valley at least a year’s worth of rainfall in a single day.

But the deluge could also prove dangerous. Around 1,000 people became stranded in Death Valley National Park last August when 1.46 inches of rain fell in 24 hours, triggering flash flooding that wiped out roads and entombed cars in floodwater-swept debris.

The region has also suffered from the absence of a seasonal monsoon that supplies a large percentage of its yearly rainfall, leaving cities like Phoenix desperate for more rainfall as they endure weeks of sweltering temperatures.

Now, the region is expected to get some relief from the extreme heat as the combined rainfall and increased cloud cover could lower triple-digit temperatures by as much as 20 degrees. The cooling may even help Phoenix break its dangerous heat streak by bringing temperatures below 100 degrees for the first time since mid-June.