A semi tractor-trailer lies on its side along after it was toppled by high winds during a winter storm along Interstate 5 in Woodland, California, US, January 8, 2023. (REUTERS/Fred Greaves)
More than 500,000 homes and businesses were without power across California as the state braced for another week of heavy rain, high winds and potential floods, with the worst weather set to arrive Monday into Tuesday.
"Huge areas" of California will get between 5 inches (13 centimeters) to 7 inches of rain in coming days with some isolated spots in the coastal mountains and the Sierra Nevada getting up to 10 inches as another atmospheric river storm comes ashore, said Bob Oravec, a senior branch forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center. The latest computer forecast models suggest the pattern will persist through January 17 at least.
“Monday will probably be the worst of it, but there is still a whole series of weaker ones after that,” Oravec said. “We still have another nine days of wet weather before we get to a dry period.”
As dawn broke Sunday, 517,095 customers were without electricity from a storm that began Saturday, according to PowerOutage.us.
Since late December,Californiahas been battered by waves of atmospheric river storms - large streams of moisture rising out of the Pacific that bring heavy rain, snow, and raise the risk for mudslides and power outages when they land.
The systems have likely caused more than $1 billion in damage so far and the price tag will keep on rising, according to an estimate by commercial-forecaster AccuWeather Inc. At least five people have died so far.
Forecast models have shifted some as Monday's storm approaches with the Bay Area facing a potential Category 3 event, according to the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes website. Earlier forecast had called for it to be a stronger Category 4 event around San Francisco.
However,CaliforniaIt has been drenched with so much water in recent weeks that the storm will cause widespread outages, mudslides and floods that will cover roads with debris. In addition, severe thunderstorms could hit the region Monday, and possibly a brief tornado, according to the US Storm Prediction Center.
"It's going to be a rough day Monday," Oravec said.
