California is breathing as atmospheric river and bomb storm approach
New Year’s Day in California: Soggy, Wet, and Weak Afterglow from a Strong Cyclone, and a Superstorm from the Los Angeles River
The river just ended and produced a lot of heavy precipitation. “As we go forward over the next week, it looks like we’re going to have several more opportunities for additional atmospheric rivers to affect the West Coast.”
The storms come on the heels of a powerful cyclone which flooded roads, toppled trees and knocked out power supplies. Power Outage says that more than 400,000 people are still without power. US. The state is already off to a very wet start to the year because of flooding rains from a New Year’s weekend storm.
The storm blew through with gusts of up to 102 mph at Magic Mountain Truck Trail, and 83 mph at Palomar Mountain Lookout, both in southern California.
“We may end up with over 15 inches of total precipitation in the next week or so, especially over the Sierra and parts of northern California,” he said. “It’s going to make somewhat of a dent to the prolonged drought they are experiencing.”
After a winter storm caused cold temperatures and heavy snow in the West, the East is starting to see warmer temperatures. Hard-hit places like the Buffalo, N.Y., area, where at least 31 people have died, are trying to recover and clear roads as snowfall lessens.
In New York City and Washington, DC the celebrations will likely be subdued on New Years Eve. Los Angeles, too, is expected to ring in a soggy new year.
There was a flood watch for much of Northern California through New Year’s Eve. People were warned that rivers and streams could overflow and that they had to prepare for it.
Buffalo, New York, and Sacramento, California, Power Outage During a Powerful New Year’s Snowstorm During the Big Blitz
Buffalo, New York, will be hit with more precipitation on Saturday, which will add to the melting snow and cause floods as the city recovers from the deadly blizzard. Next week is expected to see more rain.
“The slight risk area mostly highlights places that are already high in soil moisture, burn scars and urban areas,” the Weather Prediction Center said.
An eastbound stretch of Interstate-70 in Colorado reopened Thursday after a nine-hour closure left drivers stranded amid bouts of heavy mountain snow, widespread rain and gusty winds.
State police said five people were killed when trees fell on passing vehicles in Oregon.
On the day of the storm, the strongest one in years flooded roads, downed trees and knocked out power to most of California. The New Year’s weekend storm system produced flooding.
There is a winter storm warning in place for the upper slopes of the Sierra where as much as 5 feet of snow is possible.
A Sacramento Municipal Utility District online map showed more than 153,000 customers were affected by power outages on Saturday. SMUD crews are responding to power restoration efforts during the powerful winter storm,” the utility said in a statement.
Three communities and two cities in Santa Cruz County were affected by rising flood waters the day before.
California Highway Patrol and State Route 50 reopened on Twitter after Dec. 20th Decay after a Superstorm: Weather Service, San Francisco Bay Area, and El Paso County
“The roads are extremely slick so let’s all work together and slow down so we can keep I-80 open,” the California Highway Patrol said on Twitter. Several other highways, including State Route 50, also reopened.
The storm could bring over an inch of rain to the area before moving south, according to the weather service. One ski resort south of Lake Tahoe closed chair lifts because of flooding and operational problems, and posted a photo on Twitter showing one lift tower and its empty chairs surrounded by water.
The Sacramento agency released a map of 24-hour precipitation through Saturday morning, showing a wide range of totals in the region, from less than an inch (2.54 centimeters) in some areas to more than 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) in the Sierra foothills.
The Stockton Police Department posted photos of a flooded railroad underpass and a car that appeared stalled in more than a foot (30 centimeters) of water.
“The face of droughts is changing,” Swain said. It is easier to get into a long dry season because of the growing demand and hot summers.
Humboldt County, where a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck on Dec. 20, also saw roadways begin to flood, according to the National Weather Service’s Eureka office. A bridge that was temporarily closed last week due to earthquake damage may be closed again if the Eel River, which it crosses, gets too high, officials said.
“Much like the end of 2022 storm, this will be a strong wind event along with moderate to heavy rainfall,” the National Weather Service in the San Francisco Bay Area said on Monday.
“Strong winds could cause tree damage and lead to power outages and high waves on Lake Tahoe may capsize small vessels,” the weather service in Reno said.
On the Sierra’s eastern front, flood watches and warnings were issued into the weekend north and south of Reno, Nevada, where minor to moderate flooding was forecast along some rivers and streams.
And as streets flooded and river water levels rose, the storm also forced residents of several small communities in northern California out of their homes on New Year’s Eve as evacuation orders and warnings were issued.
An average atmospheric river carries more than 20 times the water the Mississippi River does, but as vapor. California is prone to floods from these storms as they come ripping off the Pacific Ocean, and major floods from them have happened before — but climate change is raising the stakes with millions of people likely to be impacted.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office ordered the three communities near the city of Watsonville to evacuate because of flooding and the San Lorenzo River flooding in the communities of Paradise Park and Felton.
“Additional rain on already saturated soils will contribute to additional flooding concerns across much of the state,” Solum told CNN. “There will continue to be an increased risk of rock slides and mud slides across much of the state as well.”
Sacramento Firefighters, Highway 51, and I80 Closed for a Winter Storm, a State of Emergency, and a High Snowmass Warning
Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District crews were kept busy on Saturday, performing water rescues and responding to fallen trees on homes and cars, and to drivers whose vehicles became disabled after they drove through standing water, officials said.
Calling it “Stormageddon,” the Amador County Sheriff’s Office shared an image of cars up to their doorhandles in floodwaters and said there’s been reports of flooding, mudslides and trees blocking roadways.
Highway 50 was reopened just after midnight, hours later than scheduled, after both sections of the road were closed due to flooding from the American River.
The department of transportation said that I80 was partially closed at the Nevada line due to spin outs.
The strong winds are a concern. Gusts could reach up to 80 mph – strong enough to down trees and power lines from the central California coast to Southern California, according to the Weather Service.
The county proclaimed a state of emergency, saying the atmospheric river has caused “significant transportation impacts, rising creek and river levels and flooding” in the Wilton area.
The weather service has issued a winter storm warning in the mountains where travel could be difficult to impossible.
A video of thick snow blanketing the area was shared by the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab.
The ski resort said on its Facebook page that the lifts were coated in ice and there was an avalanche danger that was extremely high.
New Year’s Day in Sacramento: Snow, Ice and Dust Forecasts in the Northern Suburbs of the Sacramento Valley, Oklahoma, and Louisiana
Dozens of vehicles stuck on the I-80 and county roads were reported at the Nevada State line by the California Highway Patrol.
Dozens of drivers were rescued on New Year’s Eve along Interstate 80 near Lake Tahoe after cars spun out in the snow, the California Department of Transportation said. The key route to the mountains from the San Francisco Bay Area reopened early Sunday to passenger vehicles with chains.
The NWS recorded more than 5 inches of rain at the downtown site, the second-wettest day in more than 170 years.
Emergency crews rescued people from vehicles that couldn’t move because of floodwaters. A person died in a vehicle submerged in water near Highway 99 in southern Sacramento County, as reported by Capital Public Radio.
With the region drying out on New Year’s Day and no rainfall expected during Monday’s Rose Parade in Pasadena, spectators began staking out their spots for the annual floral spectacle.
The National Weather Service’s Los Angeles-area office said that there would be another round of showers on Tuesday or Wednesday.
At least two people died in the storm, including one who was found dead inside a completely submerged vehicle Saturday in Sacramento County, and a 72-year-old man who died after being struck by a fallen tree at a Santa Cruz park, according to officials.
On Monday the Rockies, northern Plains, and the Midwest will receive snow, which will move into the Midwest with winter storm warnings posted.
There is a chance of severe storms on Monday in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. There will be storms that will last through the night.
An evacuation order was issued Sunday for the rural Sacramento County areas of Point Pleasant, while Glanville Tract and Franklin Pond were under an evacuation warning.
Sacramento residents and the Sacramento River burned by a five-year-old wind on New Year’s Eve: Floods and mud slides expected to move southwest toward I-5
“It is expected that the flooding from the Cosumnes River and the Mokelumne River is moving southwest toward I-5 and could reach these areas in the middle of the night,” the agency tweeted.
People who have been hit by floods and mud slides in Northern California are being warned by forecasts that the situation could get worse before it gets better.
Around 39,000 electricity accounts were without power in California, and 20,000 in Nevada as of midday Monday.
Mary Spencer-Gode, a resident of the city of Sacramento, gaped at the damage to their street when a tree was felled on New Year’s Eve.
“The wind was just going crazy,” she told Capital Public Radio. We turned the TV off so we could hear it, and I heard a loud noise in the house and it moved.
“It’s just a narrow area of high moisture that gets transported away from the tropics towards the higher latitudes,” often before a cold front arrives, as NWS senior forecaster Bob Oravec recently told NPR.
NPR has reported that a single river can carry more water than the Mississippi River. And forecasters have long warned that the systems’ winds are very dangerous. Five years ago, one of the storms toppled the legendary “Pioneer Cabin Tree” sequoia in Calaveras Big Trees State Park.
Forecasters have been raising alarms about the storm for days now, saying it could start to affect land as early as Tuesday night. As of late Wednesday morning, the system was still approaching the west coast, and they had predicted it would move slowly.
State officials warned that the public should be on the lookout for potential flooding and mudslides in areas burned by wildfires. “A debris flow can take homes off their foundations and carry items such as vegetation, large boulders, and cars.”
The Los Alamos Superboscurrence Event Against a Bomb Cyclone: Precursors of Climate Change and the Impact on the West Coast
The storm quickly became a bomb cyclone on Wednesday, when it quickly strengthened while still offshore. A bomb cyclone is an area of low pressure that intensifies by 24 millibars within 24 hours. The atmospheric pressure measure is called a média.
Many of the coastal communities will be affected by flooding, gusty winds and dangerous beach conditions this weekend. In the higher altitudes there will be strong winds that will cause near whiteout conditions for everyone traveling on the roads.
Julie Kalansky, a Climate Scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, said these storms are desperately needed more than ever to alleviate the ongoing dry spell and the dangers they bring in some areas.
“Complications in some areas include decades of over-pumping of groundwater, leading to land subsidence and decreased groundwater storage capability – you can see a couple of low well readings in the San Joaquin Valley,” Rippey told CNN. In northeastern and southeastern California, there is a bit of agroundwater shortage.
It’s unclear how the climate crisis could be playing a role in the number of storms that hit the West Coast. But climate scientists have linked the climate crisis to an increase in the amount of moisture the atmosphere holds, meaning storms — such as hurricanes and atmospheric rivers that are impacting the West Coast now — will be able to bring more moisture inland than it would without climate change, which in turn leads to an increase in rainfall rates and flash flooding.
“While some of the forecast rain totals are impressive alone, it is important to note that what really sets this event apart are the antecedent conditions,” the National Weather Service office in San Francisco said. Multiple systems have saturated soil over the last week, with increased flow in rivers and streams, which set the stage for this to become a high impact event.
“We believe that this may be one of the most challenging and impactful series of storms to hit in California in the last 5 years,” said Nancy Ward, the new director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, at a late morning news conference.
More than 100,000 homes and businesses in California were left without power after this week’s storms, and Northern California could see below-freezing temperatures on Saturday when the cold front passes through.
Southern California could be in for a storm, with winds near 75 mph, adding to the threats of fallen trees and powerlines.
One inch per hour of rain is possible, which will cause flooding and mudslides in a region that has already been flooded by a different storm that wreaked havoc last weekend.
California Bomb Cyclone Flooding Powerful Winds (CALCF) – Emergency Management on Highway 1 in Santa Barbara County, Calif.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide emergency declaration earlier Wednesday, clearing the way to quickly disseminate aid for those affected by the storm – the latest in series that have been wreaking havoc on the drought-plagued state.
The warnings ranged from winter storm warnings to high winds warnings and flood and flash flood watches.
As the storm marched towards California, firefighters and rescue equipment were stationed near burn scar areas across seven counties, as well as five other counties with flooding concerns, state officials said.
The site of a mudslide that killed 23 people in Santa Barbara last year is among the areas ordered to evacuate.
The first district supervisor of Santa Barbara County, Das Williams, told the people to comply with the evacuation. “If you live in that red zone, the one thing that we should’ve learned these past five years is that it’s better to play it safe and to evacuate and comply with the order.”
The sheriff’s Facebook page stated that officials in Monterey County started making plans for emergency shelters ahead of the storm.
The stretch of coastal Highway 1 in both directions was closed for over a week as a result of rocks falling on it, according to the California Department of Transportation.
The city had already seen some localized flooding, a couple mudslides and sinkholes as of Wednesday evening, said Mary Ellen Carol, executive director of San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management.
San Francisco fire officials said they rescued a trapped family Wednesday night, sharing images of a crew working to remove a large tree that was on top of a sedan.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/05/weather/california-bomb-cyclone-flooding-powerful-winds/index.html
PG&E and the Bay Area Regional Emergency Committee declared a Local Emergency after a Monstration in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday night
And earlier in the day, there were reports of falling glass from a downtown high rise in Fox Plaza, though no injuries were reported. “It is unknown at this time if this is wind-related – highly possible though,” the San Francisco Fire Department said in a tweet.
Oakland city officials declared a local emergency as they braced for the storm’s damage on roads, flooding and public safety.
California’s largest gas and electric utility company, Pacific Gas and Electric, reported the storm was damaging its equipment and causing widespread outages Wednesday evening.
Trees and power lines have been toppled, knocking out electricity and blocking roads and highways. A family was trapped when a tree fell on their car in San Francisco.
Aaron Johnson, vice president of PG&E’s Bay Area region, said hundreds of crews are staged around the region, including some from Southern California Edison who are also aiding in the response.
The storm will saturate roads and down trees which may make it difficult for crews to access some areas.
“This is definitely going to be ranked up there with one of the storms that I’m going to remember,” Ashley Helmetag, a meteorologist, said in a Facebook video on PG&E’s page.
The National Weather Service has warned that the Pineapple Express brought intense weather to the area, using the term for an atmospheric river that brings water from around the Hawaiian Islands to the Pacific Coast.
The San Francisco Public Library is closed by flash floods and mudslides – and the case of a 19-year-old child killed in Sonoma County
In San Francisco, a family was trapped in their car next to the San Francisco Public Library’s main branch when winds snapped a tree from its base and dropped it onto a Honda. Firefighters who used chainsaws to rescue the family reported that the occupants were OK.
In the current storm, trees are falling everywhere in the Bay Area, according to the Bay Area Rapid Transit.
A young child was killed when a tree fell on a home in Sonoma County in Northern California.
About 50 miles east-southeast of that tragedy, a 19-year-old woman died after driving onto a partly flooded road in Fairfield, Calif., on Wednesday morning. The driver hit a pole after hydroplaning.
In many areas, emergency officials are urging people to stay off the roads. Along with flash floods and mudslides, roads were littered with broken trees, power lines and other debris. At higher elevations, some highways have closed due to whiteout conditions.
Officials in California’s Santa Cruz County are seeing “significant damage” from the storm, adding that enormous waves and high tides have damaged piers along the coastline.
In Sausalito, rough conditions dislodged the city’s landmark bronze sea lion sculpture from its base; officials say it “is still attached by several bolts” and can be repaired.
After a Full Day of Rain and Snow in Los Angeles, California, forecaster says Friday evening is the best rainiest period of the week
In Los Angeles and other areas a forecaster with NBC Los Angeles said, “The morning will be the rainiest period.”
“Periods of rain and snow will continue into the afternoon and evening,” the NWS office in Sacramento said, adding that people could see isolated thunderstorms.
After a week of heavy rain and damaging winds, daytime Friday will bring some relief for the state, but another storm could come at the end of the night and cause more problems.
In nearby San Francisco, some saw localized flooding, mudslides and sinkholes as of Wednesday evening, said Mary Ellen Carol, executive director of the city’s emergency management department.
Blizzard warnings continued in the mountains and flood advisories blanketed the region, but forecasters offered some relief, predicting the storm would taper off later in the day.
It is expected to be around 40-50 mph in the valleys and up to 70 mph in the mountains, which is a bit lower than earlier this week, but still nothing to worry about.
“While these winds won’t be on the order of the previous/stronger system it really won’t take much to bring trees down given saturated conditions and weakened trees from the last event,” the weather service in San Francisco posted Friday.
The saturated ground caused by the record rainfall and the anticipated new precipitation this weekend can cause damage even with a 40 mph wind.
The rainfall over the weekend brought renewed flood concerns for local streams, creeks, and rivers. The Colgan Creek, Berryessa Creek, Mark West Creek, Green Valley Creek, and the Cosumnes River all have gauges that are currently above flood stage or expected to be in the next few days.
El Nio and La Nia Forecasts for Oroville, California, issued by the State Climate Prediction Center (Caltech.com)
El Niño and La Niña forecast patterns put out by the Climate Prediction Center give guidelines on what the overall forecast can be during a seasonal time period.
“During a La Niña, typically the Pacific Northwest sees wetter than normal conditions and Southern California sees drier than normal conditions,” Marybeth Arcodia, a postdoctoral researcher at Colorado State University said. The jet stream is being pushed further north. “
According to a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, the forecast patterns are not intended to be used on a day-to-day scale but instead for the entire season. That is why it is important to research the patterns.
“There is an element of randomness that is not explained by the patterns,” Tippett told CNN. The idea is to understand why one year is different than the other.
State climatologist Michael Anderson told a news briefing late Saturday that officials were closely monitoring Monday’s incoming storm and another behind it and were keeping an eye on three other systems farther out in the Pacific.
The city’s communications infrastructure, cellular and internet, is underground so “as we get more inundation from the rain, we’re seeing more failure around those, what we call lifeline systems” for power and communication, said Carroll.
The prediction center issued a Level 3 out of 4 risk on Monday for over 15 million people in the state because of the excessive precipitation. A Level 4 out of 4 “high risk” notice may become necessary for Monday if the forecast guidance continues to increase rainfall totals, the prediction center wrote in their discussion Sunday morning.
The California Department of Water Resources operates the State Water Project system, which includes Lake Oroville, and provides water to 29 public water agencies serving 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland.
The State Water Project’s 21-Year Improvement in 2022-2019: Before, After and After Images of an Underwater Bathtub Ring
The improvement at the reservoir has been incredible, with before- andafter photos showing it to be more than four times the historical average.
The before images show a “bathtub ring” of dirt around the edge of the lake, marking how far the water levels had fallen. By late January, the after images showed the bathtub ring was underwater once again.
According to the California Department of Water Resources, these reservoirs gained almost 10 million acre-feet of water from November 30, 2022, to February 28, 2023 – an improvement from 67% to 96% of normal and from 35% to 61% of capacity. And additional storage gains have occurred during March, especially after recent storms. An acre-foot is the amount of water that can be made up of a single foot of water.
The reservoir plunged to just 24% of total capacity in 2021. Below the boat ramps and exposed intake pipes the lake’s water level was.
The plant is the fourth-largest hydroelectric energy producer statewide, according to the California Energy Commission, with the ability to power up to 800,000 homes when operating at full capacity. 12% of the electricity in the state was generated by hydroelectric power plants.
California state water officials announced at the end of January that they will increase water deliveries to 30% of requested water supplies this year.
The State Water Project’s two largest reservoirs — Lake Oroville and San Luis — gained a total of 1.62 million acre-feet of water, which is roughly enough water for 5.6 million households for an entire year. An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to one acre a foot deep — roughly 326,000 gallons.
The Colorado River’s Low Water Levels: A Test of Climate Change, and Why It Isn’t Always Sunny in the Fourth Month
The director of the Department of Water Resources warned that there wasn’t looking to be a lot of rain and snow this month.
She stated that this is a traditional wet month that is starting off dry and that the risk of dryness is expected to continue.
Since last year, we’ve gained almost 7 million acres in California storage, which is good, and the snow will be good for the rest of this season, as opposed to the melt in the spring. It will be a challenge to manage this. Due to the record snow and limited channel capacity, getting that water out safely is going to be a challenge.
The Colorado River feeds Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the two largest reservoirs in the country. Water cuts for some Western states have been made because of low water levels in the lakes. Lake Powell hit a new record-low this month, and Lake Mead has been hovering just above its record low set last year.
It is an example of how climate change is altering water systems around the world, cranking up temperatures and making days longer and more frequent.
High-Temperature Snow and Rain in Southern and Mid-Atlantic Counties during the National Hurricane Center’s Eleventh Day
Just as noteworthy were the unusual warm temperatures seen in Southern and Mid-Atlantic states, the National Weather Service said. Nashville, Tenn., andRichmond, Va., both had highs in the 80’s on Thursday.
The National Hurricane Center advised mariners in the area of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties to “seek safe harbor immediately” since there was a chance of sudden waterspouts that could easily overturn boats. There is a risk of seeing small tornadoes on land.
San Jose, Napa and other parts of the region have been issued a freeze warning for Friday evening through Saturday morning. Unsheltered populations, crops, and outdoor plumbing will be at risk when the temperatures plummet.
There have been as many as 48 inches of snow in Battle Lake, Wyoming, 32 in Dupuyer, Montana, and 29 in Park City, Utah since the storm began.
There is still a chance of more light snow in some parts of southeast Michigan. Friday will be cold, with temperatures below freezing across the state. Forecasters expect the weather to warm up by Sunday.
A rare blizzard warning remains in effect for parts of Southern California – including the Los Angeles region – Saturday as some areas endure heavy snow and record rainfall that has delivered dangerous flooding.
The National Weather Service said that a storm with gusts of up to 80 mph has created unfamiliar snowy conditions at higher altitudes in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
Kihara told CNN that they had never seen the amount of snow up here. “We woke up to it. It started yesterday but picked up over the course of the night. Lots of trees are falling and all the roads around us are closed. The power has been mostly out since Tuesday.
The heavy snow and strong winds can ultimately result in near zero visibility for those in the area, even when snow stops falling because high winds can blow the flakes off the ground. Weather alerts have urged extreme caution when traveling.
High elevations at Big Bear Lake in Southern California saw between 20 to 40 inches of snow over the course of three days as of Friday evening, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Many cars were stuck Friday morning, prompting state officials to close roads.
In addition to the snow, some Los Angeles-area roads turned into rivers on Friday after bouts of heavy rain, prompting the weather service to issue a flash flood warning.
Michigan residents and businesses in the aftermath of a large, heavy-rainstorm impacted by ice and water in the Northern Hemisphere
The aftermath of the same weather system that struck California and numerous states spanning the country earlier this week is still affecting hundreds of thousands of people in the Midwest.
In Michigan, nearly 500,000 homes and businesses were still without power after a powerful winter storm created dangerous icing conditions. Wayne County had more than 150,000 customers without power.
DTE, one of Michigan’s largest electric providers, is restoring power to stricken areas but cautioned it will not be able to return service to most customers before Sunday.
Crews in Wyoming were in search-and-rescue mode after more than 40 inches of snow fell in the southern parts of the state over the course of several days and motorists were trapped in heavy snow, the state highway patrol said on Twitter.
In Minnesota, Minneapolis officials declared a one-day snow emergency Friday due to heavy snow, and city crews have been plowing and treating streets. The city was hammered with more than 13 inches in a three-day period this week.
The Massachusetts State Police said on their official website that the pileup may have been caused by icy conditions in New England.
The weather service said the flooding was over in both counties after the rain ended.
Brian Wheeler, a spokesman for Consumers Energy, said half an inch (1.27 centimeters) of ice weighed down some power lines — equivalent to the weight of a baby grand piano.
Allison Rinker was using a generator to keep her home warm after two cold nights in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
A Major Winter Storm Has Caused Blizzard and Flood Warnings Across the Californian Wild: Tim Varner, 92, in Portland, Arizona, after a Fourth Snowfall
“We were all surviving, but spirits were low on the second day,” she said. It was a complete flip in attitude when we were able to have one or two lights running after the heat returned.
“The ice that was falling off the trees as it was melting was hitting our windshield so hard, I was afraid it was going to crack,” she said. Half of the trees are falling down. The destruction is insane.”
The weather office in Las Vegas said the low-pressure system was expected to bring widespread rain and snow in southern Nevada by Saturday afternoon.
Yet the cold weather blasting the North and West avoided the southern states, leading to wild temperatures differences. The high temperature on Friday was 93 degrees Fahrenheit (34 degrees Celsius) in Falcon Lake, Texas, while the low was minus-35 degrees Fahrenheit (1.7 Celsius) in Huntley, Montana.
Much of Portland was shut down with icy roads not expected to thaw until Saturday after the city’s second-heaviest snowfall on record this week.
Tim Varner was covered with blankets in a Portland storefront doorway to shield him from the wind, ice and snow. The 57-year-old homeless man who has been living on the streets for two decades said it was hard to get a shopping cart to a shelter.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/25/1159560284/a-major-winter-storm-has-prompted-blizzard-and-flood-warnings-across-california
Extreme weather events in California: How many hurricanes do we see in a single day? An environmentalist’s assessment of the timing pattern in California
He said it was impossible. “The snow gets built up on the wheels of your cart and then you find slippery spots and can’t get no traction. So you’re stuck.”
Studies like this one can offer important information about how to protect people from the effects of climate change. It matters where people live, and what that housing looks like. Right now, hurricane-prone areas, such as Florida, are seeing some of the fastest population growth in the country. The financial industry, insurers and homeowners need to adapt to increase hurricane risk, according to him.
The scientist who was not involved in the new study, Adam Sobel, believes that it’s important for the public to take the study seriously. “The storms are getting stronger. Even for the same number of storms, the number that are a real problem grows because they strengthen.
Lin and her colleagues found a disturbing trend. Today it is unlikely that two damaging storms will hit the same place in quick succession, although such disasters got slightly more likely over the second half of the twentieth century.
When storms happen in succession, it’s deadly as was the case when Hurricanes Harvey and Maria hit Puerto Rico, Florida and Texas in a single year.
That’s bad news for a number of reasons. Lin says that communities need to bounce back from disasters. If people are being hit by flooding and wind damage over and over, there’s less time to recover.
It could cause problems with the government’s response. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was unable to respond to three storms at the same time, causing millions of people to be waiting for food and shelter.
Brandon Mendonsa is a farmer in Tulare County. The water is still coming and it’s far from being done.
The heavy rain and snow this winter was very welcome by many since it was necessary to replenish the state’s severely drained and degraded water resources.
“This is an unusually high number of storms this winter in California,” said Daniel Swain, climate scientist at the University of California at Los Angeles. “No matter how you slice it, no matter how you make these formal definitions, this is unusually many.”
Hecht said the numbers are likely higher than what you are seeing because of the fact that their criteria for an atmospheric river is likely stricter. “There are [also] instances when an atmospheric river is primarily targeting the Pacific Northwest, but clips the far northwestern portions of California, say Del Norte County, with weak conditions.”
He said weak and low-end moderate storms bring beneficial precipitation to the state. The big rain and snow producers are the high-end atmospheric rivers.
Hecht told CNN that atmospheric rivers are usually referred to as “AR families”. We usually don’t see them every year but the stretch of nine that we had around the new year was more active than we typically see.
Sacramento Atmospheric River Tides: Firefighters in the Carpinteria area of the El Dorado burn scar after a recent storm
The San Francisco Fire Department confirmed that five people were injured, four of them critical, by falling trees during the storm.
The San Francisco International Airport reported a ground delay of more than four hours on average because of high winds, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
In Santa Barbara County, 26 homes were damaged by high winds Tuesday at a mobile home park in Carpinteria. No one was injured but several carports and awnings were damaged, according to a Facebook post from the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District.
“Visibility is at a big ‘nope’ today,” the state transportation department for the region wrote on Twitter. “Please consider travel when conditions are more favorable. Be prepared and stay safe, if you must travel.
The worry was that heavy rain and snow would make conditions worse for people who were still flooded out of their homes by the previous atmospheric river.
Scorched soil can’t absorb rain at a normal rate, making it unstable, explained Yucaipa Fire Chief Grant Malinowski, who is part of the operations group keeping watch over the El Dorado burn scar.
Firefighters across the state have been assigned to put out burn scars as an atmospheric river takes aim at the state, and they have been doing it a lot this winter.
“It’s kind of like almost like fire season right now,” Malinowski said, describing thousands of firefighters and crew members from Cal Fire and the National Guard throughout the state responding to recent storms.
That is not like a fire where they are able to see the fire building. This is instantaneous. It just happens and it’s too late for you to react to it,” Malinowski said.
There is no easy way to perform rescues in mudslides, so it’s important for residents to obey the orders.
“We understand the gravity of asking people to voluntarily leave their homes, but it’s also weighed with the ability for us to rescue people, knowing that it’s going to be a very difficult – if not impossible – task to get through just tons of tons of dirt and debris where we just literally can’t make access,” Malinowski said.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/21/weather/california-atmospheric-river-tuesday/index.html
Activation of Snow Plowing, Storm Patrol, and Flood Control in the Southern Sierra, Calif. During the First Three Months of Snowfall
The county said it is activating public works employees for 24-hour snow plowing and storm patrol, having County Flood Control District crews active on split shifts during the storm and adding additional sheriff deputies to routine patrols for the next two weeks.
The official record-keeping started in the 1950’s and the Southern Sierra has never been higher. It is almost at a record high, and the Central Sierra could get close to it soon after the most recent storm.
The storms have increased the soil content in California, which is good because of the dry conditions. April 1 is the time of year when the state has the highest fuel moisture content, and this helps keep the fires at bay.
The acres of fallowed land that have been allowed to be used should decrease due to better allocations of water, according to the US Department of Agriculture. The land used for rice production decreased from 517,000 acres in 2020 to 256,000 acres last year, according to the USDA.
The gains may be partially offset by the floods caused by levee breeches. Due to soilcontamination or missing the right window for planting, certain areas may not be planted in 2023.
This winter’s precipitation will undoubtedly help the state’s reservoirs in the short-term, which have for several years been running at critically low levels.
But overall, Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at the Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab, previously told CNN that he is “cautiously optimistic” that all this snow will go far to alleviate the state’s reservoir concerns this year.
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California in Los Angeles, previously told CNN that even with a huge winter like this, it won’t ultimately solve the groundwater problem. They expect the West’s climate to change and that there’s just too much demand on the system.
This is not enough because of a supply and demand problem. We have a lot of straws in the ground. “But you’d need multiple years like this in a row to really move the needle on recharging those aquifers.”
According to the data from the US Geological Survey, there are nearly 200 monitoring sites that show a variety of conditions from complete recovery to partial recovery.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/23/us/atmospheric-river-winter-california-drought-climate/index.html
Floods, Levees, Rainfalls: The Case for a Cascade of Impacts in the State of California During the Pineapple Express
“We have to let our rivers flow differently, and let the rivers flood a little more and recharge our groundwater in wet seasons,” Peter Gleick, a climate scientist and co-founder of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, previously told CNN. “Instead of thinking we can control all floods, we have to learn to live with them.”
The family of storms that descended on the state this week only underscored this danger, shattering snow records and overtopping levees across the state.
“There’s a cascading chain of impacts,” said Tom Corringham, a researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. “As you push the rivers harder, as you push the flood protection system harder and harder, you get sort of exponentially increasing impacts. You flood the whole floodplain, or a levee breaks, and that’s where you get the really catastrophic events.”
An “atmospheric river” is a long, narrow ribbon of moisture that carries water vapor from the tropics to land at higher latitudes. One of the most well known examples is the “Pineapple Express,” which streams eastward from Hawaii across the Pacific Ocean and makes landfall on the West Coast. The term atmospheric river originated back in the 1990s, and it caught on because of the high volume of water that these ribbons can contain: A single one can move more than twice as much water through the sky as flows out of the mouth of the Amazon, the world’s largest river by volume.
