California is in for a punishing weekend of heavy snow, torrential rain and bitterly cold temperatures.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the forthcoming conditions were likely to be “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.
It’s the state’s first blizzard warning since 1989 with record snowfall forecast in some high-elevation areas. Up to 8ft of snow is expected in the mountains outside of Los Angeles on Saturday. The National Weather Service warned that travel would be very difficult to impossible.
Friday morning 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 has pummeled much of the western and northern United States this week, 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.
10:01 , Graeme Massie
Here’s how the three to seven day hazards outlook is shaping up from the National Weather Service (NWS).
More heavy rain is forecast across parts of California, the Central Appalachians, the Northeast, thePacific Northwest, and the Mid-Atlantic on Monday and Tuesday.
Heavy snow is expected in the Central Great Basin, the Northern Rockies, the Central Rockies along with in the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest by the end of the weekend through Tuesday.
High winds are forecast across the Rockies, the Plains and the Southwest on Sunday, moving east through Monday and Tuesday.
Much below normal temperatures across portions of California, the Central Great Basin, the Pacific Northwest, the Northern Great Basin, and the Southwest, are expected well into next week, NWS said.
In Alaska, heavy rain is expected through all of next week in the mainland and panhandle, and heavy snow is forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday along with much below normal temperatures.
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Winter Storm Olive has battered the US this week with heavy snow, blizzard conditions and significant ice, prompting the cancellation of hundreds of flights.
Wednesday 22 February 2023 15:37 , Louise Boyle
In the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, the first round of wintry conditions dropped three to five inches of snow across the area. The flurries will pick up in intensity by Wednesday afternoon, NWS reported.
The February record of 13.8 inches of snow from a single storm in Minneapolis “is likely to be smashed,” reported AccuWeather meteorologist Matt Benz.