Snow is expected to continue to fall on the west side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains throughout the day, with occasional flurries making their way east.
Advertisement
The snow will make travel almost impossible above 6,000 feet, NWS forecasters said, and at much lower elevations could affect Interstate 5 near The Grapevine. The weather service has a 16-day storm model but limits forecasts to seven days.
The rain and snow hitting California this week – partly fueled by one of the strongest El Niños on record – will put a dent in the state’s 5-year-old drought, but there’s a catch. “We’re at least on a good trajectory”.
“They don’t look like huge systems, but enough to keep it wet”, says Klapp.
El Niño is the natural warming of the central Pacific that changes weather worldwide, including the West Coast of the U.S.
Another storm is set to arrive in the later morning hours on Wednesday, expected to bring 1 to 3 more inches of rain, said Robbie Munroe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
As reported by ABC News, Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the private Weather Underground, said, “DarthNino may finally have California in its sights”.
A string of storms in the Pacific is threatening to affect the West.
The National Weather Service has warned southern California residents to be prepared for flooding, landslides and mudslides.
In a report from NBC Los Angeles, there was a voluntary evacuation recommended throughout the Silverado Canyon area of Orange County because of potential mudslides that may result from the El Niño rains.
“The best time to prepare is before a weather event happens, but there is still time to prepare at least a basic emergency kit for your home, your vehicle or your place of work”, said Brad Alexander, spokesman for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
In Long Beach, firefighters rescued a homeless woman who was trapped by rising water in the Los Angeles River shortly before noon. He was treated at a hospital for scraped feet and arms. “The heaviest rain is from Los Angeles to San Diego where locally 3-5” is possible, and the mountains can expect two to four feet of snow to fall.
As steady and sometimes heavy rains fell across Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti urged people to clear gutters and anything in their yards that might clog storm drains, and to stockpile sandbags if their home is susceptible to flooding.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said swift-water rescue teams are ready to deploy, but he’d rather not use them. Authorities say the Sepulveda Basin – a flood-control area along the Los Angeles River – is filling as expected.
The storms are also whipping up large ocean swells that could generate hazardous breaking waves at west-facing harbours.
To the northwest, flooding has closed about a mile of beachside Harbor Boulevard in the city of Ventura. It’s a 1-inch storm, a 2-inch storm, followed by a 1-inch storm, followed by a 2-inch storm.
State officials said residents in November missed their 25 percent water conservation mandate for a second month running.
Advertisement
California has been struggling with a four-year drought that has forced officials to enact a contentious water-savings plan.
