In the lead-up and aftermath of Tropical Storm Hilary thrashing Southern California, which led to landslides and extensive flooding, various TV news outlets across the political spectrum pushed false information about when the last time the region experienced a tropical storm. Looking to blame the rare event on climate change, many of their estimates on how “historic” the storm was ranged from 26 to 84 years since the last tropical storm dumped rain on the region. In reality, it was just one year ago.
“But, we begin with this morning's top story. An extremely rare powerful storm threatening the west coast. More than 40 million people are bracing for Hurricane Hilary, which could become the first tropical storm to make landfall in California since 1939,” CBS Saturday Morning co-host Dana Jacobson warned ahead of the storm.
They couldn’t even agree on 1939. According to ABC meteorologist Rob Marciano on Monday, August 22, “This historic storm” was “the first to hit Southern California since 1997” when Hurricane Linda caused flooding in the area.
So, which storm was really the most recent? Well, it turns out that it was neither.
In September 2022, Hurricane Kay was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it battered Southern California. A Fox Weather report from August 20 even compared how Hilary would match up to Kay. And on September 12, David Muir, the anchor for ABC’s World News Tonight reported on Kay’s damage: “In California tonight, the remnants of Tropical Storm Kay causing flash flooding and mudslides, more than 20 cars trapped in L.A. County.”
The suggestion that an unnamed storm in 1939 (there were four that year according to USA Today) was the last time a tropical storm had battered Southern California in any way was a common narrative across the political spectrum; from left-leaning CNN to supposedly center-of-the-road NewsNation to right-leaning Fox News (click “expand”):
JIM ACOSTA (CNN NewsRoom 8/20): You are live in the CNN newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening. We do begin this hour with the breaking news on Tropical Storm Hilary gaining speed and churning toward Southern California. It is about to become the first tropical storm to hit Southern California since 1939. Flash flood warnings are up across the region.
(…)
NANCY LOO (NewsNation Now, 8/21): That, just part of an extraordinary day in Southern California. As the earth served up a surprise for the millions bracing for the first tropical storm to hit since 1939. Just hours before Hilary arrived, a 5.1-magnitude earthquake centered near Ojai with up to a dozen aftershocks.
(…)
ERIC SHAWN (Fox News Live 8/20): Right now tropical storms really rare in Southern California. The last one happened 84 years ago, that was back in 1939.
“In this summer of wild weather, record-breaking heat, vicious wildfires, Southern California has just experienced its first tropical storm in 84 years,” MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell proclaimed on her eponymous show on Monday to push climate change. “The extreme weather driven, in part, by the abnormally warm ocean temperatures off the coast of California and following the hottest July on record on planet Earth.”
NBC, MSNBC’s sister network, also chalked Kay up to climate change:
MIGUEL ALMAGUER: On the heels of record-shattering heat the remnants of Tropical Storm Kay brought flash flooding that soaked the region, downed trees, swamped neighborhoods, and sidewalk rescues. From floods to fires, there's been little relief. Across the west, more than 90 large wildfires are burning in a region mired in drought.
And in the same hour that CNN’s Jim Acosta made his comments noted above, he played a soundbite from a California press conference where Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth recalled: “We did have a decaying Tropical Storm Kay last September that caused extensive damage, particularly in Santa Barbara County.”
Even before Kay, in 2018, Tropical Storm Rosa visited California. “Tropical Storm Rosa diminished from a Pacific hurricane over the weekend, but will still bring strong winds and dangerous rip currents to southern California on Monday,” Reuters reported on October 1.
Southern California had been ravaged by tropical storms, remnants of storms, and the outer bands of hurricanes dozens of times between Hilary and the 1939 storms. But the media seemed eager to run with the most hyperbolic of headlines.
The relevant portions of the transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Saturday Morning
August 19, 2023
8:05:49 a.m. EasternDANA JACOBSON: But, we begin with this morning's top story. An extremely rare powerful storm threatening the west coast. More than 40 million people are bracing for Hurricane Hilary, which could become the first tropical storm to make landfall in California since 1939.
Fox News Live
August 20, 2023
3:06:00 p.m. EasternERIC SHAWN: Right now tropical storms really rare in Southern California. The last one happened 84 years ago that was back in 1939. Let's take live look now at Imperial Beach, California. You're looking south of San Diego.
CNN Newsroom
August 20, 2023
5:00:20 p.m. EasternJIM ACOSTA: You are live in the CNN newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening. We do begin this hour with the breaking news on Tropical Storm Hilary gaining speed and churning toward Southern California. It is about to become the first tropical storm to hit Southern California since 1939. Flash flood warnings are up across the region.
MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports
August 21, 2023
12:49:29 p.m. EasternANDREA MITCHELL: In this summer of wild weather, record breaking heat, vicious wildfires, Southern California has just experienced its first tropical storm in 84 years and Palm Springs broke a new rainfall record. The extreme weather driven, in part, by the abnormally warm ocean temperatures off the coast of California and following the hottest July on record on planet Earth.
NewsNation Now
August 21, 2023
4:04:39 p.m. EasternNANCY LOO: That, just part of an extraordinary day in Southern California. As the earth served up a surprise for the millions bracing for the first tropical storm to hit since 1939. Just hours before Hilary arrived, a 5.1-magnitude earthquake centered near Ojai with up to a dozen aftershocks.
ABC’s Good Morning America
August 22, 2023
7:04:12 a.m. EasternROB MARCIANO: The damage the result of record rainfall in the region. This historic storm, the first to hit Southern California since 1997. Death Valley getting over 2 inches of rain Sunday breaking the all-time record for the wettest day in history.
