Storm in California: rain, snow and a strange weather warning that hasn’t been seen in years

Hurricane-force winds in California? Yes, this is the unusual warning issued by the weather service in one of the climate scenarios “the most dramatic of recent times.”

A storm hit California Sunday, flooding streets, knocking out power and prompting a rare hurricane-force wind warning as the state braced for yet another storm in what could be days of heavy rainin a place on the planet where Precipitation is a rarity.

In Southern California, authorities have warned Order devastating floods and evacuations of canyons burned by forest fires at high risk of suffering mud and debris flows.

More than 847,000 customers remained without power across the state Sunday night, with most of the outages concentrated in coastal regions.

Governor Gavin Newsom on Sunday declared a state of emergency for eight counties, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura. The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services activated its operations center and positioned personnel and equipment in the areas of greatest risk.

“Atmospheric River”

The storms that hit the region are named “atmospheric river”.

Atmospheric rivers are long, relatively narrow bands of water vapor that form over the ocean and flow across the sky. carrying much of the moisture from the tropics to northern latitudes.

The second of consecutive atmospheric rivers slowly hit California late Monday, flooding streets and leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power. causing an unusual hurricane force wind warning as the already soggy state braced for another day of heavy storms and rain.

Storm flooded roads, downed trees and power lines Sunday in the San Francisco Bay Area, where winds topped 60 mph in some areas. Gusts of more than 128 kilometers per hour (80 mph) were recorded in the mountains.

Just south in San Jose, emergency crews pulled occupants out of the windows of a car stuck in floodwaters and rescued people from a homeless encampment along a swollen river.

The storm then moved into Southern California, where authorities warned of potentially devastating flooding and ordered evacuations from canyons burned in recent wildfires and which are at high risk of mud and debris flows.

Lessons suspended

Classes were canceled Monday at schools across Santa Barbara County, which it was devastated by landslides caused by strong storms in 2018.

Further downstream, strong winds and heavy rain brought dangerous conditions to the city of Ventura, said Alexis Herrera, who was trying to save his waterlogged sedan. “All the highways around here are flooded,” Herrera said in Spanish. “I don’t know how I’m going to move my car.”

According to poweroutage.us, more than 845,000 customers were without power statewide Sunday evening.

Strong winds complicated flights

The winds caused hours-long delays at San Francisco International Airport. Sunday at 2.30pm155 departing flights were delayed and 69 were cancelled, according to tracking site FlightAware. Delays also occurred at San Jose and Sacramento airports.

Palisades Tahoe, a ski resort about 200 miles northeast of San Francisco, said Sunday predicted the heaviest snowfall so far this season, with accumulations of 15 centimeters per hour for a total of up to 60 centimetres. Heavy snow is forecast until Monday in the Sierra Nevada and motorists have been urged to avoid mountain roads.

Much of the state has dried up as the system took effect last week, causing flooding and snow dumps in the mountains. The latest storm, also called the “Pineapple Express” because its plume of moisture extends across the Pacific to Hawaii, hit California’s northern coast on Saturday, when most of the state was under some form of weather warning: wind , waves or floods.

The weather service has issued a rare “hurricane-force wind warning” for the Central Coast, with gusts of up to 148 km/h possible from the Monterey Peninsula to northern San Luis Obispo County.