Tropical Storm Lowell Expected to Dangerously Pull at California

California Beachgoers might want to be extra careful if they plan on heading to the Baja coast this weekend. While Lowell won't be making landfall, National Hurricane Center is still worried that the tropical storm's massive size will be enough to create dangerous conditions alone the California coast.

"The National Hurricane Center noted that swells generated by Lowell will affect the west coast of the Baja California, Mexico, peninsula and portions of the coast of southern California through the weekend of August 23 and 24," NASA's storm watch experts recently reported.

That may sound like "killer waves" to some surfing enthusiasts, who chase storms purely for the purpose of riding unusually tall waves. However, this isn't the good kind of "killer."

"These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions," the space agency reported.

What's interesting is that tropical storm Lowell used to be "hurricane Lowell" when it was further out in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

It's not unheard of for a hurricane to spin down over water, but most of the time its a relatively quick process that sometimes occurs after storm cells make landfall.

The NOAA's GOES-West satellite spotted a trio of tropical tempests in the Eastern Pacific earlier this morning with Lowell in the center. Tropical Storm Karina, dwarfed by Lowell's massive size, is located farthest west and is being heavily disrupted by Lowell's powerful pull.

While not expected to make landfall, the storm is still expected to create dangerous riptides along California for the next few days, until it inner-storms run out of clashing winds to keep them moving.

"Lowell will be moving over progressively cooler waters and into a drier and more stable environment during the next several days," Forecaster Daniel Brown at the National Hurricane Center told NASA. "This should lead to gradual weakening, and Lowell is expected to become a gale-force post-tropical cyclone in a couple of days."