California weather — Flood and avalanches warning amid ‘life and death’ warning for homeless people
California’s first blizzard warning since 1989
California weathered a punishing weekend of heavy snow, torrential rain and bitterly cold temperatures.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the conditions were posed “a matter of life or death for many of our unhoused neighbors,” and asked resident to help those without permanent shelter find emergency lodgings during the storm.
The storms triggered the state’s first blizzard warning since 1989 with record snowfall forecast in some high-elevation areas. Up to 8ft of snow was forecasted to fall in the mountains outside of Los Angeles on the storm’s second day. The National Weather Service warned that travel would be very difficult to impossible.
The storm also brought the threat of ocean water spouts and land-based tornadoes in the Los Angeles area of southeast Santa Barbara and southern Ventura counties.
A coast-to-coast winter storm pummeled much of the western and northern United States, styming travel plans and leaving nearly 1million people without power.
But the country was a landscape of climate extremes: While deep Arctic air caused temperatures to plummet as much as 30 to 40 degrees below average in parts of the West and Plains, the US also experienced its first 100-degree day of 2023. Falcon Lake in Texas hit 100F on Wednesday as temperature records were broken across the Southwest.
Watch: Massive coast-to-coast winter storm rips across the US
Southwest gets a heavy doze of snow and ice
A winter storm knocked out power to thousands of customers and shut down major roadways in northern Arizona and New Mexico, and is expected to keep an icy grip on much of the Southwest through Friday. Another storm could be close behind.
Ten inches of snow was reported in the mountains of northeast Arizona, with wind-whipped drifts up to two feet high near McNary, south of Holbrook, the National Weather Service said.
Another 15-21 inches is possible by midday on Friday in Flagstaff, where the local National Weather Service office was among those without power much of Wednesday.
It said the heaviest snow was expected Thursday afternoon into the night, with periods of “near-blizzard conditions possible,” snowfall up to a half-inch per hour and visibility under a half-mile at times.
Impassable roads from coast to coast
Watch: Wind whips up ‘sand blizzard’ on South Carolina shoreline
Watch: Winter Storm Olive continues to hammer the Midwest
Warnings issued for California
A coast-to-coast storm that paralyzed roads and blacked out nearly 1 million homes and businesses was set to pound California on Friday, sparking warnings about floods and blizzards.
The National Weather Service warned of a “cold and dangerous winter storm” through Saturday.
Up to eight feet of snow could fall in some mountains near Los Angeles, which could create whiteout conditions as winds gust to 75 mph and an increased risk of avalanches, forecasters said.
The weather service issued rare blizzard warnings for Southern California mountain areas and urged drivers to avoid dangerous roads.
California’s winter storm in pictures: Calm before the storm
Watch: Snow blankets the Santa Cruz mountains in northern California
Where are the power outages in California?
More than 124,000 people were currently without power in California, according to utility tracker Poweroutage.us
The worst impacts were currently in the north of the state with Lake County experiencing the heaviest impacts.
California weather in pictures
Treacherous road conditions were taking hold in the Angeles National Forest. Forecasters warned that travel would difficult if not impossible in places due to heavy snow and high winds.
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