There are flood warnings across California due to the winter storm
Snowfall and Flood Warnings for Northern California During a Snowstorm Over the Last Two Days of the Eleven-Micron Season in the Sierra
A winter storm warning remained in effect until late Sunday or early Monday for more than 250 miles of the Sierra.
With snow expected to fall at rates of 1-2 inches per hour amid powerful 40 mph winds, blizzard conditions are expected for parts of the central and northern Plains Tuesday and Wednesday.
Interstate 80 was also partially closed near the Nevada line midday Saturday “due to multiple spinouts over Donner Summit,” according to the California Department of Transportation.
The National Weather Service said some parts of California have received more than 100 inches of snow over the last week, which has led to warnings about the possibility of slides in the mountains. The building in which the residents of the three-storey apartment were residing was struck by an ice slide on Tuesday evening, and had to be evacuated, the sheriff’s office said. The building’s occupants were uninjured.
The Bay Area was bracing for the storm with the strongest winds and rain hitting before sunset on Wednesday. In Nicasio Hills, there were peak wind gusts at 85 mph.
“By Saturday night into early Sunday, the next moisture-laden Pacific cyclone is forecast to approach California with the next onslaught of heavy rain once again aiming for northern California,” the weather service said.
The weather service issued a flash flood warning on Saturday when inches of rain fell on burn scars left by wildfires south of Monterey and farther south of Big Sur.
California Power Outage and Emergency Services for the First Big Storm in Two Years of Washington, D.C. Statistical Anisotropy
As of midday Monday local time, around 39,000 electricity accounts were without power in California, with another 20,000 in Nevada, according to PowerOutage.us.
Trees and power lines have been toppled, knocking out electricity and blocking roads and highways. In San Francisco, a tree fell directly on a car, briefly trapping a family inside (more on that below).
Monte Rio Fire Department Chief Steve Baxman told KRON-TV that four different down trees had damaged houses in the area and that no injuries were reported.
“This is our first big storm, we’ve had several years of drought and all these trees were dry. They’re filling up with water, and starting to topple over, according to Baxman.
California is still bracing for several feet of snow expected in the mountains with a few inches possible in lower elevations,the National Weather Service in Los Angeles said. The weather for the Golden State is unseasonably warm nearly two months after deadly flooding hit many areas.
The greatest flash flooding threat will be from the lower Mississippi Valley into the central Gulf Coast, Tennessee Valley and southern Appalachians from Tuesday into Wednesday.
Twisters, winds, and large hail could hit Dallas, Fort Worth, and New Orleans if the storm is rated level 2 of 5. There are possibilities of tornadoes in Houston, Memphis, and Little Rock.
The worst impacts over the Twin Cities region – which generally includes the cities of Minneapolis, St. Paul and their surrounding suburbs – are expected to begin late Wednesday into Thursday. Heavy snow is expected to blanket the grounds fairly quickly – and be accompanied by gusty winds, making traveling a life-threatening task for thousands.
The forecaster for the National Weather Service in Reno said the snowpack is more than twice what it would be in December.
“It looks a lot like Christmas out here,” Deutschendorf said. “It didn’t come with a lot of wind, and it stuck to everything. It’s like a picture postcard.”
While he noted the snow totals so far are impressive, Deutschendorf said he is “cautiously optimistic” about this precipitation putting a big dent in the state’s drought.
Snow, High Winds and Cold Weather in the Midwest as a result of a Massive Winter Storm Bursting through the Upper Midwest and Midwest
The ski resort wrote on its website that they had been buried in thick snow in Olympic Valley.
Kihara told CNN on Friday that they had never seen the amount of snow up here. “We woke up to it. It began yesterday and picked up a lot overnight. Lots of trees are falling and all the roads around us are closed. Power is out and has been mostly gone since Tuesday.”
A massive winter storm hit the United States on Friday with cold, high winds and heavy snow, leaving nine people dead as it knocked out power to over a million homes and businesses.
The storm – expected to intensify throughout Friday as it barrels through the Midwest and East – is making for grim road conditions with poor visibility and ice-covered streets. Coastal flooding is also an issue, particularly along the shorelines of the Northeast.
Meanwhile, as some Northeast residents get their first taste of snow this season, a new storm system is hitting the West Coast with more snow, high winds, blizzard conditions and unusually cold temperatures – right after another storm dumped thick snow there last week.
The weather service said wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph are likely to impact a large swath of the west and that some places could see up to 80 mph gusts.
A major winter storm that will cover the High Plains and Upper Midwest with great amounts of snow will form Tuesday night and intensify on Wednesday.
Wills said in the Monday evening update that they weren’t expecting a quick burst of snow. Snow is “going to accumulate the highest in the northern Nebraska panhandle – and it’s going to be blowing around like crazy because of the strong winds that we’re going to have as well,” he said.
The National Weather Service office in Rapid City, South Dakota, said travel through the area will be nearly impossible Tuesday and Wednesday, and possibly into Thursday.
On roads and highways from Wyoming to Missouri, wind and snow combined to lower visibility, making it was dangerous to drive. Officials in multiple states, including Colorado and Illinois, urged drivers to avoid travel if at all possible.
The local weather agency warned that there was going to be a lot of freezing rain and sleet on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“The snowstorms that have hit Anchorage over the last week are historic in nature, bringing anywhere between 30-45 inches of snow to our city,” said Hans Rodvik, a spokesperson for the Anchorage mayor’s office, said in a statement to CNN Monday.
Weather, Flooding and Dangerous Winds: The Last Three-Year Eleven-Centrifugal President Biden, the Electrified Power and Utility Commissioners of Texas
Tuesday also brings a risk of flash flooding due to excessive rainfall “from far east Texas into the lower Mississippi Valley,” warns the Weather Prediction Center. Up to 4 inches of rain could fall.
According to the latest US Drought Monitor, severe drought now only covers 8% of the state, with just over a third of the state remaining in some level of drought — the lowest amount in nearly three years.
• Dangerous wind chills: The plummeting temperatures will be accompanied by high winds, which will create dangerous wind chills across nearly all the central to eastern US.
President Biden spoke to reporters Thursday morning in front of a national map of wind chill forecasts. “This is not like a snow day when you were a kid. This is serious.
The cold front has moved so swiftly that temperatures across the Rocky Mountains plunged at record paces. In nine minutes, the temperature dropped to more than 30 degrees in Wyoming.
Kentucky had a state of emergency because of dangerous wind gusts, flash flooding and possible tornadoes. There were five weather-related deaths in the state, and a semi truck blew off the highway.
Meantime, Texas’ primary electricity provider, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, told CNN it will be able to meet residents’ demand as temperatures plummet.
“The grid is ready and reliable,” said Peter Lake, chairman of the state’s Public Utility Commission, in a Wednesday news conference. “We expect to have sufficient generation to meet demand throughout this entire winter weather event.”
Flight cancellations after a blizzard in the Great Lakes, Kansas City, the Denver airport, and the library closed after the first snowstorm
Travelers’ weather woes are likely to continue, with hundreds of flight cancellations already and more expected after a bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow. There were 1,707 domestic and international flights canceled on Sunday.
No airport canceled more than Denver International Airport, where the recorded temperature of minus 24 degrees was the coldest recorded since 1990. At DIA, well over 500 flights — more than a quarter of all flights in or out of the airport — had so far been canceled Thursday. Nearly 480 more were delayed.
The major airlines use O’Hare and Midway as their hub airports, and the city made sure that crews were working around the clock to keep flights moving.
“These hard-working individuals will have at their disposal more than 350 pieces of snow removal equipment, more than 400,000 gallons of liquid deicer for runways and taxiways, and more than 5,000 tons of salt,” said Andrew Velasquez, the city’s deputy aviation commissioner.
The winter weather in Kansas City only brought a couple of snows hundreds of miles away. The city’s homeless services were expected to get a lot of use from the cold temperatures.
The area shelters added beds this week but still were at or near capacity. Some people sought refuge on the city’s streetcar, which was operating Thursday after crews had cleared the route and platforms.
The library is closed at the moment. Pete did not give his last name for fear of being kicked out, but he said that if he went into a parking garage, he would probably get kicked out. “There’s not much you can do.”
Weather Forecasts for a Snowstorm in Montana, with an Empty Sky Around the Front of the Long Beach Branch, and a Black Hole in Kansas City
The sun was out Thursday in Montana, which was the location of a snow storm. But the frigid temperatures won’t thaw until the weekend, forecasts say.
“Even though this is kind of a worse winter than we’ve seen in the last few years, it’s nothing new to Montana. We’ve been running cattle for a long time, so we kind of know how to get through stuff like this,” Willemsma said.
Hank said he would be working to keep hay out for his cattle in the cold if the high temperature was 13 degrees.
Reporting from Bruce Konviser, WPLN’s Paige Pfleger and Blake Farmer, NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly and David Schaper and the Associated Press was used in this report.
Hundreds of miles of road closings and flight cancelations were making travel hell: all modes of travel were disrupted. Part of the Long Beach branch was temporarily shut down by flooding in New York.
“Christmas is canceled,” said Mick Saunders, a Buffalo, New York, resident who was two hours into blizzard conditions that are expected to last through Sunday morning. “All family and friends agreed it’s safer this way.”
Three people in Kentucky were killed by the storm, two of them in vehicle crashes, Gov. Andy Beshear said. The man was dead when he was found and police said they would have an autopsy to figure out how he died.
One person died in Kansas City after losing control of their Dodge Caravan on the icy roads. “The Dodge went down the embankment, over the cement retaining wall and landed upside down, submerged in Brush Creek,” police said in a statement.
Temperatures in Maryland, Bluefield, and Buffalo plunged to 8 degrees on Christmas Eve as the NWS had a record-breaking storm
Temperatures plunged into the single digits in central, southern and eastern states as the massive weather system swept north into Canada and frigid Arctic air settled in behind it. The temperature in Baltimore plummeted to 8 degrees on Christmas Eve, setting a record for the cold, while Bluefield, W.Va., also had a temperature of minus 9.
More than 115,000 customers are without power because of a strong storm system bringing heavy rain, mountain snow and wind gusts to the western United States.
“The National Weather Service’s Watch Warning graphic depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever,” the agency said Thursday.
“I called it a kitchen sink storm because it is throwing everything at us but the kitchen sink,” Hochul said at a press conference Friday afternoon. Mother nature had everything she could handle this weekend, so we have had ice, flooding, snow, freezing temperatures, and everything in between.
Brian Trzeciak lived through the storm at his home in New York. Zero visibility was reported at Buffalo’s airport shortly after noon on Friday.
“My mother lives about 30 minutes away and so does my sister and her family, in the other direction,” he said. We always get together on Christmas Eve and Christmas, but we are all staying put until Monday.
The Michigan Bomb Cyclone and Snowfall Forecasts in the Light of Wednesday Night’s Superhigh-Energy Winds
Wednesday the storm rapidly strengthened while still off the coast. A bomb cyclone is an area of low pressure that intensifies by 24 millibars within 24 hours. The atmospheric pressure is measured by the millbars.
There is still a chance of more light snow in some parts of southeast Michigan. Meanwhile, across the state, temperatures will be below freezing on Friday. Forecasters expect the weather to warm up by Sunday.
• Whiteout conditions: Blizzard conditions may exist even if snowfall stops, because high winds can pick up snow already on the ground and cause low visibility.
Several school districts in Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin have closed because of the storm, and hundreds of flights from Texas airports have been canceled. The transportation department stated that multiple roads have been closed due to ice build-up.
According to the NWS in Portland, there will be winds of as much as 60 mph through at least 3 pm. The gusts are up to 70 mph along the coast.
At least six people were reportedly killed in vehicle crashes, with at least four dead in a massive pileup on the Ohio Turnpike involving about 50 vehicles.
The Nashville, NY, arctic blast caused flooding and a life-threatening threat for the public access to the Southern hemisphere
The arctic blast brought conditions to parts of the South not seen in a quarter century. It was the first time in 17 years that temperatures fell below zero in Nashville.
Meanwhile, WPLN’s Paige Pfleger reported that plunging temperatures are putting pressure on a power grid not accustomed to this cold, and that the Tennessee Valley Authority has asked local utilities to cut their electricity use. Customers in Nashville will experience 10-minute outages every few hours, until the power load stabilizes.
Scott Aaronson, vice president of security and preparedness at the Edison that getting the power restored in weather like this is a significant challenge.
“Sometimes accessing these areas can be really challenging with downed power lines, with downed trees, with very icy roads. … Crews cannot go up in bucket trucks if the wind is higher than 35 miles an hour,” Aaronson said. “Because of those two things, the ability of crews to get out there and get the power back on will be limited.”
High winds and heavy rains in New Jersey caused flooding as high as 9 feet along the coast. The Hudson River also flooded inside.
Hochul said Friday that the event was a life-threatening dangerous event. “Protect yourselves, protect your families. Do not travel until the roads are reopened, that you know it’s safe.”
The First Snowfall in New York City During the Blizzard of ’77: Emergency Personnel, Highway Safety, and Emergency Services
Many people are going to miss connecting flights because of that, and that’s a big problem.”
The western New York area saw days of sustained blizzard conditions which dropped over 48 inches of snow and caused temperatures to plummet to minus 22 degrees. The region had 27 deaths that were storm-related.
The deaths of two people in Erie County, were caused by the fact that emergency responders could not get to them in time because of the snow covered roads.
“This may turn out to be the worst storm in our community’s history, surpassing the famed Blizzard of ’77 for its ferocity,” Mark Poloncarz, the Erie County executive, said on Saturday.
Emergency workers were still rescuing people from cars as darkness fell on Saturday — some of them trapped since Friday. As the snow continued falling, some residents prepared to spend another night at home without power, with no safe way to reach shelter elsewhere.
Drivers ignoring travel bans complicated the struggle by making it difficult for emergency traffic to get into the area.
County officials urged people to stay put, even without heat or power, and asked the National Guard to assist with rescue operations. Buffalo-Niagara International Airport is closed until Monday, said Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York.
The Buffalo-New York City tornado triggered by a massive storm on Saturday night: More than 1 million people died in floods, according to Bellonte and Richards
“Everyone is like, ‘Oh, you’re from Buffalo, you’re used to this,’” said Tommy Bellonte, 37, who briefly emerged from his Buffalo home Saturday morning to check on a neighbor. “But you can’t get used to this.”
The storm spurred wind gusts strong enough to topple tractor-trailer trucks, leaving more than 1 million people without power and threatening to bring more torrential rain, tornadoes and heavy snow.
Some residents of beachfront areas in New York City also faced the prospect of leaving home for Christmas, after Friday’s storm surge caused heavy flooding in the Rockaways, swamping basement apartments, said Donovan Richards Jr., the Queens borough president.
At least 17 deaths were attributed to the storm, including a dozen in traffic accidents across four states. A woman died when a tree fell in Castleton, Vt. A 54 year old man died in the Chicago area of Hypoxic Fatalities, according to the medical examiner’s office. In Houston, a homeless person died trying to set up a fire to keep warm, according to the mayor, Sylvester Turner.
As the cold got worse, cities and towns decided to open warming shelters in fire stations and school gymnasiums, while residents sought shelter from the cold.
After a day without power, Shantel Moncrief and her husband attempted to sleep in their apartment in south Nashville on Friday night layered in sweaters and blankets. Too cold to rest, they moved into their car at 2 a.m., and at 6 a.m., relocated to her mother’s house.
Cone Dison Asks a City Customer to Conserve Energy: Frank Anderson, a New York City Police Officer, in the Snow
Travelers heading to New York for Christmas were stuck at La Guardia Airport on Saturday as more than 50 flights were canceled.
Misty and Dan Ellis arrived at the airport for check-in at 3 a.m. with their teenage children. Hours later, their flight was canceled, and each member of the family was rebooked on a different flight, said Mr. Ellis.
The family decided to rent a car and drive all the way to Nashville. Mr Ellis said he didn’t mind paying for it.
As darkness fell in Western New York on Saturday and temperatures crept even lower, thousands of utility workers and plow drivers faced another long night of work to restore power and clear roads. With snow forecast to continue, and travel bans still in effect, stores were empty of last-minute shoppers, and streets mostly silent.
Frank Anderson was stuck in the snow for the second time since his shift as a prison guard ended, in his white pickup truck.
He tried to return to his wife and three children after he found his truck stuck on Hertel Avenue, his tires spinning on ice as he tried to make it back to his house. He was about “a mile from home” in the suburb of Tonawanda.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/12/24/us/winter-storm-snow-weather/con-edison-asks-new-york-city-customers-to-conserve-energy
Howling storms and a car in Buffalo: Ditjak and Cindy Ilunga, the two children, in Toronto, during a Christmas vacation
Euan Ward , Eliza Fawcett , Isabella Grullón Paz , Bob Chiarito, Jamie McGee, Ellen Yan, April Rubin, Sharon Dunten and Maria Jimenez Moya contributed reporting.
“Some were found in cars, some were found on the street in snowbanks,” said Poloncarz. There are people that have been stuck in cars for 2 days.
“There’s one warming shelter, but that would be too far for me to get to. “I can’t drive, obviously, because I’m stuck,” Manahan said. “And you can’t be outside for more than 10 minutes without getting frostbit.”
Ditjak Ilunga and his daughters were traveling to visit relatives in Hamilton, Ontario, for Christmas when their SUV was stuck in Buffalo. Unable to get help, they spent hours with the engine running, buffeted by wind and nearly buried in snow.
By 4 a.m. Saturday, their fuel nearly gone, Ilunga made a desperate choice to risk the howling storm to reach a nearby shelter. He carried 6-year-old Destiny on his back while 16-year-old Cindy clutched their Pomeranian puppy, following his footprints through drifts.
“If I stay in this car I’m going to die here with my kids,” Ilunga recalled thinking. When the family walked through the shelter doors, he cried. “It’s something I will never forget in my life.”
Blackout Power Availability in Buffalo, Mississippi During the First Three Days of the Christmas Break and the First Anomalous Iguana Flux
Communities from coast to coast have lost power over the course of the week, but the worst of rolling blackouts appeared to have subsided. PJM said Sunday that utilities could meet the demand after initially asking 65 million customers to conserve energy.
In Jackson, Mississippi, city officials on Christmas Day announced that residents must now boil their drinking water due to water lines bursting in the frigid temperatures While in Tampa, Florida, the thermometer plunged below freezing for the first time in almost five years, according to the National Weather Service — a drop conducive to cold-blooded iguanas falling out of trees.
In Buffalo, William Kless was up at 3 a.m. Sunday. He called his three children at their mother’s house to wish them Merry Christmas and then headed off on his snowmobile for a second day spent shuttling people from stuck cars and frigid homes to a church operating as a warming shelter.
Through heavy, wind-driven snow, he brought about 15 people to the church in Buffalo on Saturday, he said, including a family of five transported one-by-one. A man who had been stranded in his car for 17 hours could get treatment back at his home.
“Buffalo’s emergency responders have been going car by car for hundreds of rescues of stranded motorists,” the mayor told Morning Edition.
“This has been described as a once-in-a-generation storm,” Brown said. It’s not like the city of Buffalo is used to.
“That number is now below 10,000, and we will continue to work aggressively and strategically with National Grid today to get everyone’s power restored,” he said.
The Fourth Rainy Day of December in Portland, Oregon, Breaking an Old Record of 1.08 Intensity by the Heat Dome
The weather service says that conditions will remain frigid on Monday but will get better as the week progresses.
When venturing outside, the NWS advises against venturing in high wind speeds and low temperatures as they can cause frostbite in less than 10 minutes.
It’s not unusual for the West Coast’s weather pattern to include some atmospheric rivers, which bring rain and snow to the mountains when it’s warm.
Almost all of Tennessee is under a high wind alert as well as more than 60 million people across the country who are under a threat of storms Friday.
Strong winds in Portland could knock down trees that have been weakened by weather extremes in recent years, arborist Colin Bourgeois told CNN affiliate KATU.
“The consecutive dry summers that we’ve had, especially the heat events like the heat dome, that really damages trees and it takes up so much of their energy to fuel their immune systems to fight off pathogens,” Bourgeois said.
Portland recorded 2.12 inches of rain, breaking the old record of 1.08 inches set on December 26, 1996. Monday was the third-rainiest December day on record in Portland.
California’s First Storm of the Week: Snow, Wind, and Flooding for a Five-Dimensional Snowmass
Nancy Ward, the California Director of Emergency Services, said the storms may be the most challenging and impactful in the last five years. If the storm shows up as anticipated. Widespread flooding, mudslides, and power losses could occur in many communities.
It was the first of several storms expected to roll across California over the next week. The current system is expected to be warmer and wetter, while next week’s storms will be colder, lowering snow levels in the mountains, said Hannah Chandler-Cooley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Sacramento.
All 11 Western states are under winter weather alerts Wednesday, with about half a million people along the higher elevations of the Rockies under high wind alerts as gusts could reach Category 1 hurricane strength. In parts of Oregon, Washington and California, the electricity has gone out.
Two major bouts of rain will impact the West Coast over the next few days. It’s not only the rain, snow, and wind that is problematic, but there will be little time to get the water out of the area.
After Monday and Tuesday, another important system is on the horizon. Guidance is slowly increasing for a new system at the end of the week to impact Northern California, though it is still too far out for more details at this point.
There are thousands of people without power in Oregon and an interstate was closed in Colorado due to the system. Thunderstorms will hit the South on Friday and then reach the Northeast as rain showers Saturday.
New York City and Washington, DC will likely be the places where people celebrate on New Year’s Eve. Los Angeles is expected to experience a wet new year.
California Flood Watches and Warnings for Saturday and Sunday through the Fourth and Sunday Afterglow of the El Paso Eel River
More than 15 million people are under flood watches in California this weekend. There is also a slight-to-moderate risk of excessive rainfall across much of northern and central California Saturday and Sunday. It increases to a more widespread moderate risk by Monday.
Rain chances for New York City will increase through Saturday, with the heaviest rainfall expected between 7 p.m. and 1 a.m. Sunday. Temperatures will be near 50 through most of the afternoon into Sunday.
The Weather Prediction Center said the slight risk area highlights places that are already high in soils and burn scars.
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 that five people were dead in Oregon Tuesday after trees fell on passing vehicles due to dangerous conditions.
Landslides already had closed routes in the San Francisco Bay Area, between Fremont and Sunol, as well as in Mendocino County near the unincorporated community of Piercy and in the Mendocino National Forest, where crews cleared debris into Friday night.
The National Weather Service’s office in Eureka reported that following the earthquake, roads began to flood. The bridge that was temporarily shut down last week because of damage from the earthquake may have to close again if the Eel River gets too high.
There were some local roads in eastern Sacramento that were closed on Friday due to flooding. The weather service said more than 5 inches of rain had fallen over the course of a 24 hour period in the Blue Canyon area of the Sierra foothills.
There’s a place in the American River where a lot of unhoused people live, and fire officials were going to warn them from a helicopter and boat.
“Heavy winds may cause tree damage and power shortages, while high waves may cause small vessels to capsize,” said the weather service in Reno.
Flood watches and warnings were issued on the Sierra’s eastern front into the weekend, where minor to moderate flooding was anticipated along some rivers and streams.
At Susanville, California about 85 miles (137 kilometers) north of Reno, the Susan River was forecast to rise from about 5 feet (1.5 meters) Friday to a foot (30 centimeters) above the flood stage of 12 feet (3.6 meters) by Saturday morning, causing moderate flooding that could affect some homes, roads and bridges, the National Weather Service said.
Parts of drought-plagued California are facing an onslaught of powerful storms to start the new year, bringing flooding rainfall and even mud and debris flows to the state.
At one point on Saturday, officials told residents of the area to leave because of rising water and they would have to find another place to live. After water made roads useless in two hours, residents were told to shelter in place.
The California Highway Patrol said “the roads are extremely slick so let’s all work together and slow down so we can keep I-80 open.” Several other highways, including State Route 50, also reopened.
A car is stranded in more than a foot of water after the underpass was flooded, according to pictures posted by the police department.
Sacramento, Calif., First Day of “Stormageddon”: Mud Slides, Flooding, Water Breathing, and Highway Repair
It was the first of several storms expected to roll across the state in the span of a week. Saturday’s system was warmer and wetter, while storms this week will be colder, said Hannah Chandler-Cooley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Sacramento.
Several rivers began overflowing, including the Cosumnes and Mokelumne rivers, according to the National Weather Service. There were flood warnings in the south of the valley.
Thousands were evacuated from two small central California towns, Alpaugh and Allensworth, in Tulare County, where there have been multiple breaches in waterways and repair efforts were “unsuccessful with the amount of water,” Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said.
The fire district was kept busy, performing water rescues, responding to fallen trees on homes, cars, and drivers whose vehicles became disabled after they drove through standing water.
The Amador County Sheriff’s Office described the event as “Stormageddon”, and said there had been reports of flooding, mudslides and trees blocking roads.
Highway 50 was reopened just after midnight, hours after a section between Pollock Pines and Meyers was closed due to flooding from the American River, while another section was closed over Echo Summit for avalanche control work.
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.
Rainfall in downtown San Francisco hit 5.46 inches (13.87 cm) on New Year’s Eve, making it the second-wettest day on record, behind a November 1994 deluge, the National Weather Service said. There were videos on the social media site that showed the mud-colored water streaming along San Francisco streets and the staircase in Oakland turning into a waterfall.
New-Year Snowfall and Flooding at the Main Lodge in Sacramento, Calif. Associated with Sacramento State Line, Elm Tree, and I-80
According to the ski resort, over a foot of new snow has fallen at the Main Lodge, and that work will take place across the mountain since the lifts were coated in ice and are prone to avalanche danger.
At the Nevada State line and Colfax, CHP reported “dangerous and treacherous” driving conditions with dozens of vehicles stuck on the I-80 and county roads.
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.
Emergency crews rescued people from vehicles that couldn’t move because of floodwaters. At least one death was linked to the weekend storm, after workers in southern Sacramento County found a person dead inside a vehicle submerged in water near Highway 99, as member station Capital Public Radio reports.
The region dried out on New Year’s Day and there was no forecast of rain for the Rose Parade in Pasadena.
Glanville Tract and Franklin Pond were under an advisory to evacuate on Sunday, while an order was issued for the rural areas of Point Pleasant.
“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.
Forecasters in Northern California have a sobering new-year message for people who are reeling from floods and mudslides: the situation could get worse before it gets better.
The concern was that the heavy rain and snow could make the flooding from the previous atmospheric river worse for some communities in the state.
On Sunday, Sacramento’s Mary Spencer-Gode and other residents gaped at the damage on their street, where the storm toppled a massive elm tree on New Year’s Eve.
“The wind was just going crazy,” she told Capital Public Radio. “We turned off our TV so that we could hear it, and I heard a big ‘woosh’ and kind of the house moved.”
Five Years of a Big Storm in Calaveras Big Trees State Park: Flooding Impacts on Los Angeles and Wildfires
“It’s just a narrow area of high humidity that gets moving away from the tropics and towards higher latitudes before a cold front.” said NWS senior forecaster Bob Oravec to NPR.
For states along the West Coast, atmospheric rivers are “actually responsible for a good majority of the rainfall during the colder season, which is the season when they get most of their rain,” Oravec said.
The precipitation can be extreme: a single atmospheric river “can carry more water than the Mississippi River at its mouth,” as NPR has reported. 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. They knew it would be slow, and as of Wednesday morning, the system was still near the West Coast.
Belen De Leon of NBC Los Angeles said the storm isn’t over in Los Angeles, even if there are some patches of clear sky.
Along with flooding, the risk of mudslides is especially high in sites of recent wildfires, where there’s no longer enough ground cover to absorb and retain moisture.
Flooding impacts have already been reported in the city, according to San Francisco Department of Emergency Management Executive Director Mary Ellen Carroll. “We’re seeing sinkholes on our streets – a few of them. Mudslides are not significant at this point. We know we are going to see more of those conditions if we get more rain and less time in between.
As wells run dry and reservoirs drain, Julie Kalansky, a climate scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, said these storms are desperately needed more than ever to alleviate the drought, despite the hazards they bring in some areas.
“As much as folks feel like it’s been an unrelenting winter, we actually have gotten some at least weeklong breaks and, in some cases, multi-weeklong breaks in between these sequences,” he said. If we had had this winter and all of the storm cycles that happened back to back with no breaks, the level of flooding in California would be much higher.
A 2022 study authored by Swain found that climate change has already doubled the chances of a disastrous megaflood happening in California in the next four decades – a storm unlike anything anyone alive today has ever experienced.
Many areas already reached their saturation point from storms late in December and New Year’s weekend due to the yearslong dry spell. As a result, the influx of water is expected to unleash major flooding in some places.
“We anticipate that this may be one of the most challenging and impactful series of storms to touch down in California in the last five years,” said Nancy Ward, the new director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, at a late-morning news conference about the threat.
People in the areas covered by theweather experts are urged to prepare for the possibility of power outages, and for travel delays due to debris and fallen trees and power lines.
The powerful storm could also lash Southern California with maximum wind gusts near 75 mph, adding the dangers of fallen trees and powerlines to the mix of hazards Californians are facing this week.
California was lashed with heavy downpours and strong winds when a powerful bomb storm slammed into the state Wednesday night.
The National Weather Service said that up to a foot of snow is possible over the mountains of Ventura and Los Angeles counties as a result of the severe weather across the West Coast.
San Bernardino County is one of 13 counties that has been declared a state of emergency because of the impacts of severe weather.
As the storm marched towards the state, firefighters and rescue equipment were near burn scar areas, as well as five counties with flooding concerns.
Among the areas ordered to evacuate is Montecito, the site of a mudslide in 2018 that killed 23 people as mud and boulders the size of houses plowed down the Santa Barbara hillsides, splintering more than 100 homes and rupturing a gas main, according to the state’s Office of Emergency Services.
“I’m urging folks to comply with the evacuation,” said Das Williams, first district supervisor in Santa Barbara County. “If you are located in the red zone, the best thing you can do is to play it safe and to comply with the order.”
Officials in Monterey County also started setting up evacuation points and emergency shelters ahead of the storm’s arrival, according to the sheriff’s Facebook page.
Rockslides forced the closure of a long stretch of coastal Highway 1 in both directions from Ragged Point in San Luis Obispo County to south of Big Sur in Monterey County, according to the California Department of Transportation.
The Northern Californian Flood Warning Revealed by the London Breed Flooding and the Loss of a High-rise in Fox Plaza
San Francisco’s Mayor London Breed saidfloods are inevitable as the city was under a flood warning.
The family was trapped in a car on top of a tree when they were rescued by the San Francisco fire department.
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, but the San Francisco fire department said in a post that it is probable.
Across the bay, Oakland city officials declared a local emergency Wednesday, bracing for storm damage on Oakland roads, flooding and potential threats to public safety.
Pacific Gas and Electric, California’s largest gas and electric utility, said the storm was damaging its equipment and causing widespread outages.
“We’re seeing a significant number of trees falling into our lines, as well as other impacts on our power system,” PG&E’s Teresa Alvarado said on Twitter. “We’ve mobilized for a major repair and restoration effort.”
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 is going to be ranked as one of the worst in the history of meteorology, according to a meteorologist in a video uploaded to the company’s page.
The National Weather Service referred to the weather as a “potent Pineapple Express” this week, saying it was brought on by an atmospheric river that brings water to the Pacific Coast.
The Santa Monica, Calif., storm parade began early in the afternoon: A teenage girl killed by a tree collapsed into a utility pole
In downtown San Francisco, winds snapped a mature landscaping tree off at its base and dropped it onto a Honda sedan, trapping a family in their car next to the San Francisco Public Library’s main branch. The firefighters used chainsaws to rescue the family from a building.
Excessive rain proved deadly Wednesday when a 19-year-old woman died after crashing her car into a utility pole on a partially flooded road in Northern California, the Fairfield Police Department said. The driver hit “a patch of standing water and hydroplaned, losing control of the vehicle, before colliding into a utility pole,” police explained.
In many areas, emergency officials are urging people to stay off the roads. The roads were covered with broken trees and other debris from the floods and mudslides. At higher elevations, some highways have closed due to whiteout conditions.
Huge waves and high tides caused damage to piers along the coastline in Santa Cruz County.
The bronze sea lion sculpture in Sausalito was knocked off its base by rough conditions, but can be repaired.
“Meteorologists sometimes talk about what they call the’storm parade,’ which is a reference to us having a series of atmospheric rivers back to back,” Stark said. “That’s really what’s happening right now: We’re looking at having another series of big storms this weekend, and even into next week.”
There will be some relief on Friday after a week of damaging gales and flooding caused by the heavy rain and power cuts that hit most of the state.
The Sonoma County Fire Department said Wednesday night a baby died from mudslides, flooding, and sinkholes after a large redwood tree fell
A young child – about age 1 or 2 – was killed Wednesday after a redwood tree fell on a home in Sonoma County in Northern California, Occidental Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ron Lunardi said.
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.
If you intend to travel overland through the West Coast states by road, be prepared for rapidly changing conditions and have winter driving supplies, according to the National Weather Service.
Even a 40 mph wind can do damage when the ground is so saturated from record rainfall earlier this week and the cumulative effect of the new rainfall expected this weekend.
Over the weekend, there was renewed concern 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.
Guidelines for the overall forecast can be found on the Climate Prediction Center’s El Nio and La Nia forecast patterns.
“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. “This is due to the jet stream being pushed farther north and having a wavier pattern. “
“Atmospheric rivers typically form during the winter months and can occur during El Niños or La Niñas,” Arcodia said, noting their strength, frequency, and landfall location can be influenced by the larger patterns in the Pacific.
The State of Emergency Management of Little Rock, Arkansas, after the Little Rock Storm Earlier this week issued a U.S. Department of Weather Warning
According to a professor at Columbia University, the forecast patterns shouldn’t be used on a day-to-day scale, but instead on the entire season. This is why researching the patterns is so important.
There is an element of randomness that isn’t explained by the patterns. It might help us understand why one year is different from the other.
State officials were keeping a close watch on the incoming storm and three other systems farther out in the Pacific, according to Michael Anderson.
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.
This has led the prediction center to issue a Level 3 out of 4 risk for excessive rainfall for over 15 million people in the state on Monday including those in San Francisco, Sacramento, Monterey, Fresno, and Oxnard. 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.
“Overall, there is high confidence (60-80%) that this wetter-than-normal pattern will continue through the next couple of weeks,” the weather service in San Francisco said. We do not have pictures of how much rain will fall but we do know that saturated soils could pose a hazard into the third week of January.
Amid such conditions, the governor has requested the state’s emergency management division to increase its resources so it can be ready to respond through Thursday.
As ice began forming on roads in Little Rock, Arkansas, the governor declared a state of emergency Monday and activated the winter weather support teams of the state’s National Guard to be prepared in helping police in their response to the storm.
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders urged Arkansans who are experiencing winter weather to avoid travel and heed the warnings of local officials.
Icy Weather in the Southern Hemisphere and Beyond: Predictions for Chicago and Los Angeles, Tennessee, and Kentucky During a Big Storm on Monday
The emergency order directs $250,000 to be used by theDivision of Emergency Management to provide funding for programs and administrative costs.
Dave Parker, the spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Transportation, said that the real enemy would be ice. This could be a very dangerous situation.
By late Monday, ice had already spread across grounds in Memphis, Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky, as well as Texas, where at least a few car crashes were reported in Austin with no injuries.
And while the forecast shows there will be periods of reprieve over the next two days, roads will likely remain dangerously slick throughout the storm as temperatures remain low.
It is expected to be the hardest day for driving in Texas on Tuesday as bridges and roads inevitably become icy, said the weather service.
We expect sufficient generation to meet predicted demand this week. We aren’t requesting for conserve at the moment. The agency said in an email that they want the public to be aware of any power issues they may experience.
Charleston, West Virginia, can see sleet up to an inch, while Louisville, Kentucky, can see ice of up to a tenth of an inch.
This article originally appeared in the CNN Weather Brief which is released every Monday. You can sign up to receive them each week or during a big storm.
The Pacific Northwest has already seen snow and rain, and the storm will add to their already blockbuster snow season.
The highest mountains of Washington and Oregon could see up to 3 feet of snow, while winds in the Pacific Northwest could gust up to 60 mph. Waves will break into coastal areas if the seas are as high as 20 feet.
“This amount of snow will result in the passes needing to be closed for a period of time which will impact traffic getting to and from Los Angeles,” The National Weather Service office in Hanford, California said.
There are warnings in place for southern Wyoming, where there is more than one foot of snow and gusts of wind greater than 70 mph. The wind chill is expected to plummet to 25 degrees below zero.
Chicago will experience a swath of icy weather on Thursday. Ice could also be a problem for parts of the Ohio Valley, yet pinpointing exactly where it will occur is challenging this far out. Stay tuned with the forecast if you live in these areas, because freezing rain and sleet could halt your travel plans and even cause power outages.
As the storm moves eastward, winter storm watches are also in effect for parts of interior New York and New England through Wednesday afternoon. In total, these isolated areas can get up to 10 inches of snow.
High-Temperature Record Breaking across the Southeast and Into the 90s in the Coming Days as Flares of Heavy Rain and Ice Scattered Snow Fall
Dozens of daily high temperature records could be broken again in the coming days as areas of southern Texas and the Florida peninsula could see temperatures into the 90s.
It will feel similar to early summer across the Southeast and up into the Midwest as nearly 150 million Americans will see a high above 70 degrees this week. The contrast across the country will be stark, as highs in the Dakotas will be below zero and highs in central Florida surge into the 90s.
The storms can bring heavy rain from eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas to northern Illinois and southern Michigan.
High temperatures across the region will climb well into the 70s and 80s beginning Tuesday before peaking on Thursday, and cities across the Florida peninsula could reach into the 90s. Typically highs are seen in May or early June when the temperatures are 35 to 45 degrees above normal.
Gov. Tim Walz directed the state’s National Guard, the transportation department and the state patrol to be prepared to respond storm impacts, he said on Twitter.
The cancellations come as more than five million people are under ice storm warnings across northeastern Iowa, southern Wisconsin, northwestern Illinois and southern Michigan. And more than two million people are under blizzard warnings across parts of Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas.
The National Weather Service said snow could fall at a rate of 1 and 2 inches per hour in parts of the Upper Midwest, with winds gusts up to 50 mph. Whiteout conditions will be created due to the falling and blowing snow.
State Department of Transportation and Higher Local Government Action on Snow and High-Speed Autonomous Vehicles in the Southern Rockies and Southern Suburbs
The offices for executive branch of the state government in more than 50 of the 66 counties will be closed on Wednesday, with plans to use telecommuting for employees. I-90 and I29 were partially closed on Tuesday night in preparation for the snow.
Eastern Wyoming College announced the closure of its main campus. There will be a virtual learning day in the Natrona County school district on Wednesday due to hazardous weather and road conditions.
The state highway patrol said search and rescue operations were under way in several counties to get trapped motorists out of the snow.
More than 160 car crashes were reported and dozens of cars spun off roads in Minnesota as the area received 3-7 inches of locally higher amounts as of early Thursday. Lt. Gordon Shank made a series of statements.
In Wisconsin, which has been hit by snow since Tuesday and freezing rain Wednesday, Gov. Tony Evers declared a statewide energy emergency.
The Los Angeles region is one of the places where a rare blizzard warning is in effect on Saturday due to record rainfall and heavy snow.
The dueling winter storm and southern heat wave created a stark 100-degree temperature difference between the Northern Rockies and the South earlier this week.
Preemptive Airline and Airport Closes in Southern and Mid-Atlantic Regions with Snow and Floods Forecasted by Superstorms on Friday
• Wisconsin airport preemptively closed: Green Bay’s international airport canceled the remainder of its daily flights Wednesday evening and most of its flights Thursday morning.
The offices of the governor of Maine will be closed on Thursday as a large storm is predicted to bring significant snow to the state.
Atlanta has a record for warmest February day at 81 degrees. Washington, D.C., reached 79 degrees, New Orleans reached 83 degrees and Nashville, Tenn., was 80 degrees on Wednesday.
Just as noteworthy were the unusual warm temperatures seen in Southern and Mid-Atlantic states, the National Weather Service said. On Thursday, the temperature in Nashville, Tennessee, and Richmond, Virginia, both hit 85 and 83 degrees.
California is bracing for a new atmospheric river which is expected to bring new snow and rain to the state as it is still reeling from powerful storms and destructive floods.
On Friday, forecasters also urged mariners near the coast of the state’s San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties to “seek safe harbor immediately” — warning of severe thunderstorms that could produce sudden waterspouts, powerful enough to “easily overturn boats.” There is a chance of tornadoes on land in the two counties.
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.
The storm moved into Michigan on Friday afternoon, blanketing the state in snow, causing more than a 100,000 customers to lose power and forcing the Detroit Metropolitan Airport to close temporarily. Last week, an ice storm left 800,000 homes and businesses without power.
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.
The Mid-Atlantic Storm of March 31, 2006: An Evening’s Night in the Dark, Power Outage.us Shares Information on the Recovery of Power and Electricity
Hundreds of thousands of people in the Midwest are still dealing with the aftermath of the weather system that struck California and many states earlier this week.
Nearly 500,000 homes and businesses in Michigan were still in the dark Saturday following a powerful winter storm created dangerous icing conditions, according to tracking site PowerOutage.us. Wayne County had more than 150,000 outages.
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.
A massive pileup on the Massachusetts toll road may have been the result of icy conditions in New England.
Flood advisories were still in effect in the mountains but the storm was projected to abate later in the day.
Ventura County saw up to 7 inches (18 centimeters) of rain early Saturday but by 6 am the weather service said the flooding was over.
The spokesman for Consumers Energy said that half an inch of ice weighed down some power lines, which was equivalent to the weight of a baby grand piano.
Allison Rinker used a generator to keep her home warm on Saturday after it had been dark for two nights.
The Cold Weather of Portland, Texas, and the Third-Biggest Snowfall in the U.S. Two Years after the First Day of Snowfall
“We were all surviving, but spirits were low on the second day,” she said. “As soon as the heat came back and we were able to have one or two lights running, it was like a complete flip in attitude.”
The ice that fell off the trees was hitting her car so hard she feared it’s going to crack. “There’s just tree limbs everywhere, half of the trees just falling down. It is insane how the destruction occurs.
Yet the cold weather blasting the North and West avoided the southern states, leading to wild temperatures differences. The temperature in Texas on Friday was 93 degrees, while the low at Huntley, Montana, was minus 35 degrees.
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: nearly 11 inches (28 centimeters).
Tim Varner sat in a doorway in Portland with blankets shielding him from the cold and wind. The homeless man said it was too hard to push a shopping cart to reach a shelter, and that he has been homeless for two decades.
Los Padres, Calif., a winter storm caused by a snowplow and a blizzard. State Route 33 has been closed due to rock slides and erosion
“It’s not possible,” he said. “The snow gets built up on the wheels of your cart and then you find slippery spots and can’t get no traction. You’re stuck.
The storm made travel dangerous in some areas. State Route 33 in the Los Padres National Forest has been closed due to rock slides and erosion from previous storms, according to the California Department of Transportation.
In Oklahoma, there were at least nine tornadoes, including one in the Oklahoma city of Norman, where police warned of road rage and downed power lines.
More than 100 other storm reports – including wind and hail – were recorded in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas as hurricane-force winds and severe thunderstorms tore through the states. A gust of 114 mph was recorded In Memphis, Texas – equivalent to a category 3 hurricane.
The Air Force moved most of its aircraft at McConnell Air Force Base to protect them from damage during the storm and make sure they are still available in the event of need.
In the West, some mountain residents in Southern California could be stuck in their homes for another week, following a rare blizzard that shut down all of the highways leading up the mountains. The park was forced to close after it got up to 15 feet of snow.
A tornado warning warning in Oklahoma and its impact on the San Bernardino Mountains, Calif., on Sunday afternoon for residents of the Southwestern Great Lakes
The National Weather Service states that a derecho can cause damage in one direction across a relatively straight path. The wind damage should span more than 200 miles and include gusts of at least 58 mph on the majority of it’s length.
A tornado warning was issued for the University of Oklahoma’s Norman campus on Sunday evening, and students were told to immediately shelter in place.
In Oklahoma, the storm ripped roofs off homes, flipped cars, downed trees, littered neighborhoods with debris. Twelve people have been injured from the storms in Oklahoma.
The Great Lakes are poised to be hit this week, including Michigan where 146,000 homes and businesses still do not have power after the prior storms damaged trees and utility lines.
There is a chance of 2 to 8 inches of snow Monday for those under winter weather alert.
Kathy Hochul told the people of New York that they should prepare for hazardous travel conditions because of cold rain, wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour and snowfall rates at least one inch per hour.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff says people in the San Bernardino Mountains have been stuck in the snow for a week and are now running out of gas and groceries.
The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services has been working to bring additional snow plows and road crews to the county, and personnel from Cal Fire and the California National Guard “are readied to support operations.”
More than 600 students were trapped at their camp last Friday, when they were supposed to return home, because of the storm. The school children were escorted down the mountain by the highway patrol to be with their families.
Travelers could be stuck with near zero visibility until early Wednesday morning. Strong winds could cause trees to be damaged or lose power. The National Weather Service office in Reno said you could become stranded in vehicles if you risk travel.
You have to know how to use chains. If you get stuck, bring an emergency kit that includes warm clothes, snacks and water. Make sure your vehicle is ready with good tires and working wiper blades,” the Oregon Department of Transportation said.
Road Safety and Emergency Services in the Norman, Shawnee, and Cheyenne, Oklahoma, Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, officials said on Sunday
Officials in Oklahoma are still assessing the damage, though the most concentrated impacts appear to be in Norman, Shawnee and possibly Cheyenne, according to a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
About 150 people from their neighborhoods were rescued on Saturday and another 22 people were taken to shelters or the mountain on Sunday, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies also distributed food to residents over the weekend.
We are responding to medical calls. They are responding to fires in trapped vehicles. We are going to people’s houses where they’ve had trees through their houses or some sort of roof collapse and we are evacuating them to our evacuation shelters,” Munsey said.
The county fire chief said that they were “literally using shovels to shovel out the driveway to make sure that people have access to their cars.” As the roads are cleared, there is still a berm of snow that you need to make it over.
Huntington Lake in the Sierra Nevada saw 144 inches of snow, per a report from the Fresno County Office of Emergency Services, which reported 10 to 12 feet of snow near China Peak, leading to the closure of Highway 168.
A Snowstorm in San Bernardino County, Calif., Tuesday afternoon after an elderly woman’s death as a result of weather-related house fires
There is a small risk of excess rainfall in Oklahoma and Ohio, where 25 million people are under flood watches. There is a chance of 1 to 2 inches of rain per hour.
The Storm Prediction Center issued a tornado watch for more than 8 million people across southwest Virginia, eastern Tennessee, western North and South Carolina and northern Georgia until 8 p.m. ET. The watch has places in Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia.
Power was restored to medical facilities west of Fort Worth in Weatherford, where more than 50% of the city was initially without power, and many homes, businesses and the city hall were damaged.
But many communities blanketed by the last round of snow have yet to recover as snowfall blocked critical roads, trapped them in their homes and damaged vital businesses such as grocery stores.
The Placer County Sheriff’s office told CNN that an elderly woman named Lois Barton died in a weather related incident. She did not share the circumstances of the death, though where the incident occurred saw heavy snow and temperatures around freezing on Tuesday, CNN meteorologists said.
A number of structure fires in San Bernardino County appear to be storm related, according to the county fire department. The department said the number of fires is “atypical” but did not provide an exact number.
According to the fire chief, there are several house fires in mountain communities that are being caused by gas leaks. Many of them are in areas with unpassable roads. Firefighters are responding to homes using snowcats and often drudging in by foot with shovels and hoses and digging hydrants out of the snow to extinguish flames, Munsey said.
Rescuers are supplied with meals-ready-to-eat to distribute with those unable to get food, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said in a press conference on Friday. First responders will be setting up food distribution points and a convoy with food and other supplies to restock supermarkets will be escorted up the mountain, he added.
The Snowfall in the San Bernardino Mountains: News from the Sheriff’s Office and the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Unit on the Opening Day of February 24
Crestline and Lake Arrowhead have been covered in snow in the last few days. In some neighborhoods, the streets are indiscreet and the homes have snow piled to second story windows.
The only way around is by shoveling walkways. He added, “Everyone every day has been shoveling, and then it’ll snow another two feet.”
The San Bernardino Mountains, the site of many people living at high altitudes in forest communities and year-round recreation, were the scene of a rare late February blast of cold air.
By last weekend, all highways leading up into the mountains were closed and have opened intermittently since then to residents and convoys of trucks loaded with food or other supplies.
The estimate by San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus was an improvement in the outlook for stranded residents, which previously ranged up to two weeks.
He said that they were hoping to drop it to one week due to the state’s efforts.
The sheriff and others said progress has been made, but described certain conditions as making firefighters have to go to emergency scenes.
“The enormity of this event is hard to comprehend,” said state Assemblyman Tom Lackey. We’re thinking ‘we’re in Southern California’, but we have had a lot of anxiety, frustration, and difficulty for victims and people who are actually trapped in their own home.
Some California mountain residents could be snowed in for another week without power – Facebook post by the Mono County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook
In Mono City, a small community on the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada near Yosemite National Park, some residents have been snowed in without power for a week, the Mono County Sheriff’s Office posted Friday on Facebook. In the northern part of the state, mountain communities grappling with the conditions have smaller populations and are more accustomed to significant snowfall.
Riggs, who lives with her 14-year-old daughter, said everyone is working to keep snow and ice off their decks to prevent collapse and making sure the gas vents on their homes are kept clear.
Devine Horvath said it took her and her son thirty minutes to walk down the street to look at her neighbor.
Horvath said that she had been unable to leave her street since the grocery store’s roof collapsed.
“We’re going to dig you out and we are coming,” Dicus said. “We are making tremendous progress. I saw this from the air yesterday. The roads are being cleared.”
Because of the huge levels of snow, front-end loader and dump trucks were used instead of regular plows.
California Department of Transportation official Jim Rogers said crews working 24-hour shifts have removed more than 2.6 million cubic yards (1.9 million cubic meters) of snow from state highways.
There are buried vehicles, downed power lines and other difficulties that make it hard to reopen smaller roads. Residents were told to point out the locations of their cars.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/04/1161119770/some-california-mountain-residents-could-be-snowed-in-for-another-week
The Newsom State of Emergency for San Bernardino County: A Snowshoeing Crew Contribution to Water Treatment for Wildlands and Forest Resilience
A California National Guard crew who normally works on the California Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force was being brought in with more snowcats. The crew will help shovel snow.
About 80,000 people live in the San Bernardino Mountains either part or full time. The county has not estimated how many people are currently in the mountains because many residences are vacation homes or rentals.
Hundreds of businesses were closed and flights were canceled when several Maine counties and parts of New York, Vermont and New Hampshire saw more than a foot of snow.
But further south in San Bernardino County, where emergency crews have been working to reach communities immobilized by heavy snow, mountainous areas may only see light snow showers Monday morning before getting a much-needed break for most of the week.
“People are getting desperate. They need medication for their illnesses. They need food for their children, according to a resident of Cedar Glen. He said he has been snowshoeing out of his home for days to get groceries and check on elderly neighbors.
San Bernardino County is one of 13 under a state of emergency issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom last week, allowing for an influx of emergency personnel and resources, including the California National Guard, to support rescue and recovery.
An Update of Highway Passability in the San Bernardino County Mountain Area, with Special Effects on Roads and Fields for the Vargas & Vargas Family
One of the most critical tasks has been plowing about 500 miles of tight, winding roads throughout the San Bernardino County mountain areas, officials said last week.
By Sunday, about 80% of the county-maintained roadways had been made passable, the county said in an update. “Passable means at least one lane open with less than 8 inches of snow, which can be navigated by four-wheel drive vehicles with chains.” the update said.
“We were promised that help is coming. He said that they were getting a little impatient. We might have a week’s food left. A lot of our stores are closed because of the roof collapse, and gas stations seem to be short of fuel.
San Bernardino County resident Iliana Vargas and her family have been unable to return to their home for days after they ventured out to get supplies, only to be told they could not return to the house due to road closures.
“We have our whole life up there, our businesses, my job, my laptop, everything is there,” Vargas said. She wants to get home to stop the collapse of her house from the weight of the snow on it.
The Alpaugh- Allensworth Disaster: An Unusually Large Number of Atmospheric River Families in the State of Tulare
Thousands were evacuated from the two small central California towns of Alpaugh and Allensworth because they were worried that the roads could become unpassable and isolate the residents. First responders from dozens of agencies, including the California National Guard, were out Sunday afternoon helping residents evacuate – a sight that has become familiar in the flood-ravaged state this winter season.
Tulare County Farmer Brandon Mendonsa told CNN that the devastation was “immense”. The water is still coming and it’s far from being done.
Many welcomed this winter’s heavy rain and snow since it was so desperately needed to replenish the state’s severely drained reservoirs and depleted groundwater.
The University of California at Los Angeles Climate scientist said that this winter is an unusual number of storms. “No matter how you slice it, no matter how you make these formal definitions, this is unusually many.”
Hecht said this year has already outpaced the state’s average annual number of atmospheric rivers. Many of them came in a rapid series of storms in early January.
Weak and low-end moderate storms tend to be less impactful and primarily bring beneficial precipitation to the state, he said. Meanwhile, the high-end atmospheric rivers are the big rain and snow producers, which lead to more severe impacts.
“We typically refer to these successive types of atmospheric rivers as ‘AR families,’” Hecht told CNN. “While AR families are not all that uncommon, we don’t see them every year and the stretch of nine we had around the turn of the New Year was a more active family than we typically see.”
California Atmospheric River Thursday: Firefights and Emergency Services in the Santa Barbara County, Calif., region after a two-day storm on Tuesday
Four people were critically injured in San Francisco, when trees fell on them during a storm on Tuesday, according to the San Francisco Fire Department.
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, high winds damaged 26 homes at a mobile home park. No one was injured but several carports and awnings were damaged, according to a Facebook post from the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District.
The state transportation department for the region pointed out on its website that visibility is poor. “Please consider travel when conditions are more favorable. If you must travel, be prepared and stay safe.
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 stationed around burn scars each time an atmospheric river menacingly takes aim at the state – and they’ve been doing it a lot this winter season.
“It is almost like fire season right now as thousands of firefighters and crew members from Cal Fire and the National Guard respond to recent storms.”
They can not see the fire building and get closer to it. This is instantaneous. It just happens and it’s too late for you to react to it,” Malinowski said.
When it comes to rescues in mudslides, residents have to obey orders that aren’t made lightly.
We understand that people will leave their homes but we know that it is only a matter of time until we are forced to rescue people.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/21/weather/california-atmospheric-river-tuesday/index.html
On a Plan for Snow Plowing and Storms in the Connexus with the County of Pisota-Zel’dovich
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.
