Winter storm bring blizzards, rain to California

LOS ANGELES: A coast-to-coast storm that paralysed 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. As much as 5 feet of snow could fall in some mountains near Los Angeles, which could create whiteout conditions as winds gust to 120 kmph 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.

Storms already have battered the Plains states and northern regions of the country for days and the National Weather Service predicted continuing problems from ice, snow and freezing rain into the weekend.

In the Pacific Northwest, much of Oregon’s largest city was shut down after almost a foot of snow fell unexpectedly. It took drivers in Portland by surprise, stalling traffic during the Wednesday evening rush hour and trapping motorists on freeways, some of whom spent the night in their cars.

The snow began to melt later in the day but as temperatures dropped and night fell, roads became slick with black ice.

Portions of Interstate 80 in California and Wyoming were closed because of impassable conditions.

The weather also knocked out power to nearly 1 million homes and businesses in multiple states and closed dozens of schools. At one point on Thursday, more 2,000 flights were grounded and nearly 14,000 were delayed across the country, according to the FlightAware.com.

Widespread power outages were reported in Michigan, Illinois, California, New York and Wisconsin, according to the website PowerOutage.us.

AP A pedestrian walks across the Highway 38 overpass above I-15 in the California Cajon Pass amid heavy snowfall.