Los Angeles Thursday saw an increase in rainfall in California, where the season’s largest atmospheric river is predicted to deliver heavy rains, high winds, and flooding to wildfire-ravaged areas.
The Portland region is experiencing the first snowfall of the season as a result of the storm, which is affecting the whole West Coast.
Southern California officials prepared rescue swimmers, provided sandbags, and advised citizens to prepare their go-bags before the storm arrived.
Before the system leaves on Friday, hydrologist Brent Bower of the National Weather Service said southern California may receive up to 6 inches of rain in the mountains and 3 inches in the valleys and coastal regions. Strong gusts have the potential to delay flights, bring down trees, and cause power outages.
According to the Los Angeles weather service office’s Thursday post on X, if at all possible, avoid driving today, especially this afternoon and evening.
Due to worries about possible debris flows during thunderstorms, evacuation orders and warnings were issued in regions where hillsides had been completely destroyed by the Palisades Fire, the most catastrophic in LA history.
In Altadena, where thousands of houses were damaged by the Eaton Fire, temporary concrete barriers and sandbags were in place. On Wednesday, Lowell Meyer, whose house escaped the fire, looked over the storm preparations.
According to him, any rain in California has unanticipated and regrettable repercussions. Additionally, Altadena’s streets are steep, so it makes reasonable that there would be worries. That people are taking it seriously makes me happy.
Because loose debris, like as ash, soil, and boulders, has been added and vegetation that keeps soil grounded has been burned away, smoldering regions are more vulnerable to mudslides, he warned in a statement.
Due to the atmospheric river—a lengthy band of water vapor that forms over the ocean and carries moisture from the tropics to northern latitudes—all Malibu schools were closed on Thursday, and the Knott’s Berry Farm amusement park in Orange County, to the south, was shuttered.
The region is in dire need of rain, but Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, warned that this storm could bring too much too soon. Mud flows and flash flooding could be the outcome.
The U.S. Drought Monitor reports that a large portion of Southern California is still experiencing extreme or severe drought despite recent showers.
Roadways in the San Francisco Bay Area were flooded, there were minor landslides, and there were power outages. Concerns were heightened near the Russian River, which is prone to flooding, north of the city in wine region.
As the San Lorenzo River threatened to overflow its banks, authorities in Felton Grove, a small village on California’s central coast, issued evacuation orders.
According to a statement from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, staying in this evacuated area could endanger your personal safety and make it more difficult for rescue or medical services to reach you.
Heavy snow and freezing rain slammed the east.
In New England, where snow and ice made driving hazardous, many local districts postponed or cancelled classes on Thursday. Many schools didn’t experience their first snow day, and this weekend is predicted to bring another snowstorm to the Northeast.
During the morning commute in Maine, the roads were slick. The district for the Kennebunk area, which is located along the southern coast of Maine, canceled classes as a precaution even though there was not much snow in the southern part of the state.
Terri Cooper, the district superintendent, said in a statement that it would be dangerous to ask our employees and children to commute in these conditions.
Two persons were killed in a tractor trailer crash on the Maine Turnpike on Thursday, according to Maine State Police, who said they were looking into the incident.
Following two days of intense snow and freezing rain throughout a large area of the eastern United States from Kentucky to Washington, D.C., Thursday’s storms threatened to flood waterways, caused hundreds of traffic accidents, and knocked out power to tens of thousands.
According to the National Weather Service, the storm system dumped more than 14 inches of snow on Iron Gate, a small Appalachian hamlet in western Virginia, and 12 inches on White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, a small city located roughly 65 miles to the west.
According to PowerOutage.us, over 14,000 people in North Carolina and roughly 175,000 customers in Virginia were still without power as of Thursday afternoon. Restoration is expected to take days, according to Virginia’s Appalachian Power provider.
The airports in the area got a few inches of snow. FlightAware.com, which tracks flights, reports that about 3,500 flights to or from U.S. airports were canceled or delayed Thursday.
Mississippi tornado suspicion
Meteorologists in Mississippi planned to assess damage in the South. According to a statement from the weather service’s Jackson office, severe thunderstorms passed over Marion, Covington, Jones, and Clarke counties on Thursday. Tornadoes with downed trees and building damage were reported.
According to video, a possible tornado tore through the small Mississippi town of Columbia, damaging multiple homes and shredding the steel roof of an industrial facility while hurling massive amounts of debris into the air.
Columbia Mayor Justin McKenzie told WDAM-TV that while about 20 houses were damaged, no serious injuries or fatalities were recorded.
In fact, we’re really lucky,” McKenzie added. We are simply fortunate that there are no injuries or other problems and that everything that has been harmed can be repaired.
Hundreds of mishaps
About 850 crashes occurred in Virginia on Tuesday and Wednesday, with dozens of injuries reported by the state police, where Governor Glenn Youngkin proclaimed a state of emergency. It was unclear, according to officials, whether the weather was to blame.
On Wednesday, Maryland State Police recorded 185 unattended or inoperable vehicles and 235 collisions.
storm in the Pacific Northwest
Officials in the tri-county area opened emergency shelters as snow began to fall in southwestern Washington and northwest Oregon on Thursday morning.
A cold weather advisory was in force in Idaho, where wind chills in the north central region might drop as low as minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit.
Julia Duncan, a co-owner of Flowers in Flight in Northeast Portland, dismissed the weather, stating that the region has experienced ice storms in previous winters and that patrons are prepared to go above and beyond for those they care about.
Valentine’s Day is today! “Duncan said.” All we can do is wait and watch what occurs.
