At least two more storms are headed toward California in the next few days, bringing more heavy rain and flash flooding. as communities recount the destruction of this week’s punishing atmospheric river.
The New systems will affect parts of Northern California that are already saturated with rain and battered by destructive winds.
Parade of Atmospheric River events with heavy rain on saturated soils, heavy mountain snow, & damaging winds continues in CA & into OR. Potential for flooding, rapid river rises, & mudslides; flash flooding/debris flows on burn scars; & difficult travel conditions above 5,000 ft. pic.twitter.com/wvtCPCVxJO
— National Weather Service (@NWS) January 7, 2023
Coastal cities in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties were particularly hard hit by waves and flooding this week that damaged numerous homes and businesses and left beaches in shambles.
“I’ve been here for 17 years and I’ve never seen anything like it.” Capt. Curtis Rhodes of CalFire’s San Benito-Monterey unit told the Los Angeles Times. “We have never seen waves this big.”
Utility crews in Northern California worked to restore power to tens of thousands of homes Friday after two days of ferocious winds and torrential rains, even as the region braced for another onslaught of stormy weather before the end of week.
The next streak of heavy downpours and gusty winds was expected to hit the northwestern corner of California Friday night and spread south into the San Francisco Bay Area and Central Coast through Saturday and Sunday.said the National Weather Service (NWS). Southern Oregon was also forecast to be affected.
Another “atmospheric river” of dense moisture flowing from the Pacific, the looming storm is likely to dump several more inches of rain on a region already saturated from repeated downpours since late December, renewing flood risks. sudden flashes and landslides. the NWS said.
According to meteorologists, slopes and canyons stripped of vegetation by previous wildfires are especially vulnerable to rock and mudslides.
In addition to heavy rain, up to 2 feet of snow was expected to fall over the weekend in the higher elevations of the Sierras, where accumulations of one foot to 18 inches or more were measured earlier this week.
Much of northern two-thirds of California, the most populous US state, was under flood watches, hurricane wind watches and winter storm warnings on Friday as forecasters urged residents to prepare for the deluge. and stay off roads in flood-prone areas.
The ominous forecast comes on the heels of a massive Pacific storm that unleashed hurricane-force wind gusts, high waves, torrential rain and heavy snowfall in California for two days. The northern part of the state was hardest hit.
As of Saturday morning, some 38,000 homes and businesses remained without power in several Northern California counties due to weather, according to data from Poweroutages.us.
Strong winds uprooted trees already weakened by prolonged drought and poorly anchored in rain-soaked soil, downing power lines and blocking roads across the region.
Road travel was also disrupted by flash flooding and rock slides.
Rough waves and runoff from heavy rains combined to flood several blocks in the coastal city of Santa Cruz, and strong waves broke wooden piers in the adjacent city of Capitola and nearby Seacliff State Beach.
Farther north, strong waves broke through the back doors of the historic Point Cabrillo Lighthouse in Mendocino County, flooding its ground-floor museum, the Mendocino Voice newspaper reported.
The two-day storm, which ended Thursday night, was powered by a huge atmospheric current of moisture from the tropical Pacific and an extensive hurricane-scale low-pressure system known as a bomb cyclone.
It marked the third and strongest atmospheric river to hit California since early last week.
Research predicts that climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of such rainstorms, interrupting extended periods of extreme dryness.
At least six people have died due to severe weather since New Year’s weekend, including a toddler killed by a fallen redwood that crushed a mobile home. in Northern California.
The rapid succession of storms left downtown San Francisco drenched with 10.3 inches (26 cm) of rain from December 26 to January 4, the wettest 10-day stretch recorded there in more than 150 years, dating back to 1871, according to the NWS.
The highest all-time rainfall total ever documented over 10 days in the downtown area was 14.37 inches (36.5 cm), an 1862 record that the NWS said would likely hold through downpours to come.
The storms have brought welcome replenishments to the Sierra Nevada snowpack, a critical source of California’s water supply, but experts say much more snow will need to fall this winter to markedly improve the state’s severe drought situation. .
For better or worse, the weather service predicted another “probably stronger” atmospheric river storm was “on the horizon by Monday,” part of a broader pattern that forecasters believe is likely to persist until at least mid-June. January.
Read more
* VIDEO: Fire crews rescue 2 dogs who were shipwrecked during California bomb cyclone flooding
* Storm in Southern California brings rain, strong winds and helicopter rescues
* Massive storm ripping through Northern California, resulting in the death of a young child, as well as evacuations and power outages