Remnants of Hurricane Kay reached the California coast, giving much-needed rain to a currently hot and humid environment starting on Friday, Sept. 9.

Hurricane Kay, however, didn’t make direct contact with California as a hurricane because it didn’t have hurricane intensity. Instead, it reached the southern portion of the Golden State as a tropical storm.

These tropical storms aren’t common though, according to the Los Angeles Times, the last tropical storm to affect California was in 1997 called Tropical Storm Nora

Tropical Storm Kay caused flooding in many parts of California, though most have just been experiencing one to two inches of rain.

“I am pretty happy because I love rain,” said junior Yashua Welch. “There is no flooding where I live either.”

Welch showed optimism towards the storm and when asked if he had to take any precautions for its arrival. He said that he did not need to.

“It was rather enjoyable for me,“ said junior Mihlo Green. “It helps that it was pretty mild compared to other hurricanes that happened, and it brought some rain that we needed.”

Green thinks positively of the hurricane, noting that the flooding was unfortunate and that they think Kay did help with some water problems Southern California has been facing.

According to SciJinks, hurricanes in the U.S. typically develop from Africa over the warm Atlantic water which evaporates, creating warm and moist air. This air rises until condensing back into water droplets, forming huge storm clouds called cumulonimbus clouds. Wind speeds also increase in a circular motion around the center of the storm causing nearby clouds to be pulled toward the storm, making it bigger. When it encounters land, a hurricane can be extremely destructive if the wind speed is fast enough. However, it no longer receives the moist air from the ocean causing it to eventually weaken.

After Tropical Storm Kay hit California, the area experienced relief from an extended heat wave as temperatures dropped.