USA TODAY International Edition
Now it’s the West’s turn as storms aim at California
Golden State will brace for snow, mudslides
The USA's wild weather will shift from the East to the West this week.
California will take the brunt of the storminess: Flooding rain, yards of snow and mudslides are expected. The first of three Pacific storms barreled into the state Monday, closing roads, snarling traffic and drenching the striking teachers in Los Angeles.
Interstate 5, the main north-south highway in California, was closed Monday because of heavy snow, stranding cars and trucks.
The storms were expected to bring several rounds of heavy rain, mountain snow, gusty winds, rough surf and possible flooding through the week, the National Weather Service said. Even worse, areas burned by last year's devastating wildfires will be especially prone to mudslides.
California officials ordered evacuations for residents in Riverside County: “People in these zones must go now,” officials wrote. “Rainstorms carry the potential for dangerous debris flows that can send mud, boulders and trees crashing down hillsides.”
The wild weather is the result of a jet stream over the Pacific Ocean, which will funnel an “atmospheric river” of moisture into the state. Atmospheric rivers are ribbons of water vapor that can extend thousands of miles from the tropics to the western USA.
Snow totals in the mountains will be as much as 7 feet is possible in some spots, AccuWeather said. “In the mountains, there can be at least a couple of yards of snow in the high country of the central and southern Sierra,” according to AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.