• The slow-moving Tropical Storm Melissa is expected to become a major hurricane centered over the northern part of the Caribbean Sunday. Experts anticipate multiple days of heavy rain — between 25 and 35 inches in Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, resulting in life-threatening flash flooding and landslides. [Associated Press]
• A large-scale investigation spearheaded by the Mountain View Police Department resulted in the capture of Franklin Enrique Sarceño Orla, 35, who’s suspected of drugging and raping over 60 men in the South Bay dating back to 2018. Sarceño is scheduled to appear in court Monday on 43 felony sexual assault charges after being brought back to Santa Clara from Guatemala where he fled. [KGO]

• A professor of ophthalmology at Stanford University, Daniel Palanker, has created a device that has successfully helped about 30 people with advanced age-related macular degeneration gain their ability to read again during a clinical trial. [SFGate]
• Newsom signed a bill on October 13 that requires the launch of a state commission on the inclusion of trans youth in sports, following backlash over his podcast with Charlie Kirk in March discussing the “unfairness” of allowing trans athlete AB Hernandez to compete in the state track and field competition. [KQED]
• Experts think Prop 50, which would temporarily redraw California’s US Congressional districts before the 2026 midterm election, is sure to win, as Democrats supporting the measure have out-spent opponents, one of whom single-handedly donated $30 million to squash it. [Bay Area News Group]
• Halloween Lovers and Television News Enthusiasts: Now’s your chance to get on the big screen — send pics of your costumes to KRON4 by October 29 to be featured on next Saturday’s broadcast. [KRON4]

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

Meet Hurricane Jova, being described as “Western Hemisphere's strongest hurricane so far in 2023,” and presents the possibility of Category Five hurricanes in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans simultaneously.

It was just two-and-a-half weeks ago that Hurricane Hilary drenched parts of southern California, even having been downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit the state. And now another hurricane is threatening to arrive in California, as the Chronicle reports that a new Hurricane Jova is speeding through the Pacific Ocean, currently some 500 miles southwest of Baja, California.

Hurricane Jova, (pronounced “HO-vah”, like Jay-Z) seemingly came out of nowhere Wednesday, turning from a tropical storm to a Category Five hurricane in less than 24 hours. It’s winds reached sustained speeds of 160 miles per hour Wednesday night. Though as of Thursday morning, its wind speeds dropped slightly to an average of 155 miles per hour, making it a Category Four.

Still, the Chronicle points out that “The storm’s strength is expected to fluctuate,” though eventually weaken Thursday evening.

Thankfully, Accuweather says “the storm poses no immediate threat to land.” The Bay Area is not likely to see any rain from this system, though there will likely be rain from the outer bands of the hurricane in Monterey and San Benito Counties on Saturday. Las Vegas might even get rain from the storm. too. But it’s not anticipated to be anywhere near as bad as the impacts of Tropical Storm Hilary, which walloped several southern California cities with floods, as Hurricane Jova is so far out to sea.

“It’s going to remain quite far away from us,” National Weather Service Bay Area meteorologist Sean Miller said to the Chronicle Wednesday.

But Southern California may see some flooding from high surf, with he the highest risk in areas like Long Beach.

"Jova will track to the northwest through the weekend and is not expected to bring direct impacts to land," according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham. "It will, however, bring rough surf and rip currents to the west coast of Mexico and potentially into coastal Southern California."

Accuweather is calling Hurricane Jova “the Western Hemisphere's strongest hurricane so far in 2023 ... for now.” That “for now” qualifier is added because there is yet another hurricane, Hurricane Lee, currently heading toward the Atlantic Coast. And as Accuweather points out, if Jova regains Category Five status, and Lee becomes a Category Five too, it would be the first time in recorded history that Category Five hurricanes occurred simultaneously in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Those records go back to 1960, when meteorologists started maintaining satellite records on hurricane strength.

Related: Tropical Storm Hilary Makes Landfall in Southern California Sunday, With Heavy Rains, Landslide Risk, and Evacuations [SFist]

Image: Accuweather

Emergency officials have issued dire warnings to residents of Southern California as Tropical Storm Hilary, previously a hurricane, bears down on the region. Hilary made landfall Sunday morning on the Baja California peninsula and is expected to continue its path north throughout the day, after Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Saturday. He said over 7,500 emergency workers are on the ground, actively working to safeguard communities in the storm's path.

Although downgraded to a tropical storm from a hurricane over the weekend, Hilary is expected to unleash heavy rainfall, powerful winds, and life-threatening flooding, according to the Chronicle. Already on Saturday, one person was reported dead from drowning Mexico on the peninsula’s eastern coast, as NBC reported.

Hilary is reportedly projected to target Southern California by the afternoon, according to the National Hurricane Center. In California, a flash flood warning has been issued for Los Angeles County, including Long Beach, Glendale, Santa Clarita, Lancaster, Palmdale, and Malibu, on Sunday until 7:45 p.m. P.T. Evacuation orders were issued for various neighborhoods in San Bernardino County, as ABC reported. The storm's path is predicted to trigger mudslides, landslides, and dangerous debris flow across the region, with the impact extending through Monday morning.

The southern coast is expected to experience record rainfall, according to the National Weather Service.

Residents are reportedly flocking to grocery stores, eager to stock up on essential supplies like food and water in anticipation of the storm. Meanwhile, airports across the region have encouraged travelers to verify their flight statuses with their respective airlines, as cancellations and delays are anticipated due to the severe weather conditions brought on by Tropical Storm Hilary, according to the Chronicle.

Luckily, forecasters say that the Bay Area doesn't expect an impact.

Feature image of Hilary over Southern California viewed Sunday via NOAA/GOES-18 Satellite.

We are looking at back-to-back La Niña winters, and while forecasters tried to keep us optimistic about the chances of average rainfall last winter, we all know how that turned out. So we should brace ourselves for another year of this drought.

Forecasters at the Climate Prediction Center issued an update Thursday giving a 60% chance that another La Niña pattern will form — and this same forecast was given last year, only to be updated the second week of September to say, "Yep, La Niña is here."

La Niña temperature patterns, in which cooler temperatures gather along the surface of the Pacific, have a mixed bag of effects on the West Coast, with the tendency to make for drier than average winters in Southern California, and wetter than average years for the Pacific Northwest. This past winter, there was hope early on that the drier than average November and December here in Northern California would give way to to wetter winter and spring months, but that didn't happen, and we had one of the driest winters on record, making our current drought that much worse.

The drought in the American West is one issue that a second La Niña winter could exacerbate. As CNN reports, this could also spell disaster for the East Coast hurricane season, because La Niña patterns tend to inhibit wind shear — and the only thing that ends a hurricane season is increased wind shear. Last year's extreme hurricane season, in which they got to the end of the alphabet with named storms and had to start using Greek alphabet letters for names — something that the World Meteorological Association decided this year it would stop doing because it got confusing. (If we get up to more than 21 named storms this season, they will revert to a supplemental list of names that uses less common names and the letters X, Y, and Z.)

The hurricane season in the Atlantic is already more active than usual, with six named storms already — including Fred, which is expected to make landfall as a tropical storm in Florida on Saturday. But there's already another tropical depression forming behind it, which forecasters say will be Tropical Storm Grace by Saturday. Storm watches have already been issued for Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, and Sint Eustatius.

As CNN notes, there typically are not six named storms until around September 8, which is when the Atlantic hurricane season hits its peak. So the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coast could be in for a very busy month or two, storm-wise, starting now.

We should know better in a few weeks if this really will be a La Niña year or not.

For both the New Orleans Saints and the 49ers, this season has .

There's no worse feeling in fandom than unmet expectations. And both of the NFL's gold-helmeted teams have seen the bottom drop out of their dreams for the 2007 season.

* New Orleans vs. San Francisco
Sunday, October 28, 2007. 1:00 PM, PST.
Week 08
The Battle Of Fool's Gold

After being counted out of the 2006 season post-Hurricane Katrina, the Saints made an unlooked-for offensive surge with rookie Head Coach Sean Payton calling the shots, won an utterly surprising amount of games, and plowed all the way to the NFC title game.

(Including mooshing the 49ers 34-10 in Week 13 at the Superdome, kneading the Niners around like a gramma gently working meatloaf into shape. Speaking of which, all the money spent on rebuilding the Superdome could have been better spent in the community of New Orleans. Football is a sport -- it can wait -- but people still need our help in New Orleans. It's not like FEMA is gonna get the job done. Donate to standard-checked charitable organization with this link. Do what you can. Now, back to the column.)

Since that final game of 2006 in Chicago, the [nu ˈorliənz] American football franchise has fallen hard. The weak secondary wasn't really improved in the offseason. Their hard-charging RB Deuce McAllister is lost for the year with an injury. Opposing defenses have been able to fluster QB Drew Brees, disrupting the triggerman of Payton's accuracy-requiring offensive scheme.

One of the best things about living in San Francisco is all the film festivals! We thought we were on top of them, and then we just found out this weekend that the SF Black Film Festival is starting later this week too. We can't keep up!

The Ninth Annual Black Film Festival runs this weekend and next at the Theater Artaud and the African-American Art and Culture Complex, and is featuring African and African-American movies in all genres: e.g., a romantic comedy with Vanessa Williams, foreign films from Africa, foreign films from Ireland, short films, a movie described as "the African Rambo," music documentaries (on the queens of reggae!), and what looks like a harrowing film about Hurricane Katrina, among many, many others.

They're also showing kids' movies at the Museum of the African Diaspora, hosting a black music and film festival at the Apple Store, and it looks like Busta Rhymes might be coming to town as well.

SFist is belatedly getting in our application for press access even as we speak, and we're hoping to be there as usual, reporting in on the scene!

Ho' boy. Somebody better call FEMA. Fire up the buses and make sure that the Oracle has plenty of cots and bottled water, because there could be a CAT5 disaster looming in the Warriors future.

Last night at the Oracle, the team was able to withstand the Sacramento Kings, 126-113, in a game that the hometown hoopsters controlled from the opening minutes, but there's storm clouds brewing. Ironically, last year's killer storm, Hurricane Artest, was in the house to remind the Warriors about decision making. It was ironic, because the Warriors again find themselves toying with the idea of voluntarily welcoming an NBA bad boy into the fold even as their team chemistry seems to be taking on a little water.

In the course of blowing yet another fourth quarter lead on Sunday, this time against the Sonics, 119-117, it appeared that the inevitable waves of discord between headstrong team front man Baron Davis and headstronger old-school hardass coach Don Nelson might be lapping at the weakened levees of this Warriors season.

In the final 17 seconds, as the Warriors watched another victory slip through their grasp, Nelson pulled Davis from the game, to which the Diddy responded peevishly. Later, Nelson justified the move by admitting he had conceded defeat at that point: "We were in a fouling situation. I wanted to inbound the ball and play with the guys that were in there. If there had been a chance to win the game, I would have put him back in." Yeah, but why not just keep him in there, just in case? The bottom line is Nelson purposely did not play the team's best player and court leader in the critical moment of the game in order to make the point that this is his team and by god, he's going to be sure that everybody knows it.

So Davis stewed on the sidelines with his arms folded across his chest and watched Anthony Roberson and Keith McCleod try, unsuccessfully, to rescue the win. After the game, Davis had no comment. On Monday, he was saying all the right things, but . . . .

Nelson thinks he is probably just sending a message to his team. The problem is Nelson has a long and troubled history of doing this, especially with this franchise. During his first run with the team, he pulled similar moves with Tim Hardaway and Chris Webber. And we all know how that Chris Webber thing turned out.

Shades of Chris Webber for Diddy and Nellie? Just bring in KG and all will be well in Warriorsland. Photo from official Golden State Warriors website.

Go to the Forbidden Island in Alameda. Billing itself as Alameda’s “first and only tiki lounge,” it’s a first-class joint for picking up drinks with props. More importantly, however, these drinks come with rum -- and lots of it. We began last night with the Missionaries’ Downfall (a “light and refreshing cocktail is a frothy mix of fresh mint, lime, pineapple, and a dash of peach”) and quickly moved on to the Island Mai Tai. A few hours later, we reluctantly tore ourselves away from our last mai tai, the plate of delicious sweet potato fries we had managed to nab for free, and the soothing blowfish-shaped lights.

Among the reasons we were so reluctant to leave: the guys behind the bar. In addition to some skillful mixology – we watched them whip up assorted concoctions that required bananas or passionfruit, as well as one that came in an adorable pufferfish tiki mug – they lavished the patrons with the right amount of attention and bar chatter. Jim (he of the cocktail named “The Morgue”), Chris (responsible for “Bloodlust”) and Ryan (who doesn’t rate a cocktail, apparently) were all charming.

Fortunately, we live close enough to walk home if necessary. Those who aren’t living on the island may want to invite a designated driver to the Forbidden Island. Those living in Oakland can make their way down to sister bar Conga Lounge. After all, we love rum drinks that come with their own suite of accessories, but we never, never approve of driving under the influence.

Tiki drink image courtesy of Maui Beverages.

Luckily, while we've been working on our tan other people have been working on more important things. Our inbox contains an email from one of our readers who's is rightfully proud of something her mother and aunts cooked (groan!) up: a cookbook of Indian and Cajun recipes called "Saffron to Sassafras". The proceeds are going to the Baton Rouge Capital Area Battered Women's Program and other charities for women and children in Louisiana. These organizations had it hard before, it must be much more difficult now to compete with so many other worthwhile causes in raising funds. You can order the book online via their website and the magic of PayPal. Their recipe for Chennai Chicken is making our stomachs growl. Mmmm, coriander.

If your mom does something awesome to help other people let us know and we'll give you the same treatment. Moms rule, hurricanes drool!

We were going to blame our missed post on Hurricane, Tropical Storm, Summer Shower Albert, but you see how that went, so we have to level with you. We were in Orlando last week on business, holed up in another convention center, this time without a laptop. We were supposed to be sharing one with someone from work, but if you've ever had to do that, or if you've ever had siblings, you know how well the sharing thing goes with something as valuable as that. ˙In any event, this absence meant that when we went to visit all our lovely SF blogs, well. . . there were quite a few. So, in the spirit of misanthropy towards all of blogdom and its never-ending torrent of text, our first link this week will be to le blog exuberance. Then, after we've ended poverty, we'll need somewhere to go to unwind. May we suggest the Santa Cruz mountains? And then, rested and refreshed, we're back into blogging.

So why did Elsbernd push it off to committee, a sure-fire way to delay the sucker and keep the thing from ever being voted upon? Says Elsbernd in Matier & Ross: "I have more important things to do than to vote for President Bush's impeachment.' But because the idea that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors should always involve itself into national and foreign affairs is such a given, Beyond Chron wonders whether Elsbernd is either just trying to stick it to Daly, or-- horror of horrors!-- exhibiting support for Bush and Cheney.

Why this resolution is important because, once again, San Francisco will be leading the way to affect change throughout the country. We're sure once the resolution passes, an Assemblyman in Peoria will be so inspired that they will push a similar resolution there and once Peoria calls for it, well, buh-bye Bush. Because that's what always happens when we pass one of these resolutions.

Beyond Chron has another theory, one formulated after a discussion with a member of the politically attuned and well connected San Francisco People's Party, about how with all that BushCo. have done, they just might be guilty of enough war crimes to be thrown in front of the War Crimes Tribunal. Which will SO happen.

Actually, it might in that one country on the board of the Hague is Venezuela, which is run by Bush's good buddy Hugo Chavez. And Chavez is just crazy enough to do it. And by crazy, we mean well more than missing a few episodes of a "Buffy" Season Three box set DVD. Like more than half the season and every episode in the second half after Faith goes bad and joins up with the Mayor and even probably the awesome episode where Willow has to impersonate her bad-ass lesbian Vampire alter-ego (we lurve that episode). It goes without saying that with Chavez leading the way, the other nations will follow through and it'll only be a matter of months before Bush is hauled away in prison t's.

All of this thanks to Chris Daly.