A powerful Pacific storm moving inland Tuesday is set to bring more rain, snow and damaging winds to California, a state already waterlogged from at least 12 atmospheric rivers that have delivered a barrage of rain and snow in recent months.
Several inches of rainfall is possible over the central California coast and as the moisture moves into higher elevations of the state it will turn to snow, the Weather Prediction Center said. Between 1 and 3 feet of snow is likely in the northern coastal ranges and the Sierra by Wednesday.
More than 8 million people along the central California coast are under a slight, Level 2 of 4, risk of excessive rainfall Tuesday, renewing the threat of flash flooding.
At this time in a normal year, this type of atmospheric river storm would bring beneficial precipitation to the region. But given the unprecedented amount of rain and snow California has already received over a prolonged period, the storm will exacerbate flooding issues, bring down weakened trees and add more snow to already record levels.
Cities including Oakland, Monterey and Big Sur are on track to hit their top three wettest Marches on record by the end of this week.
“Preceding storms have saturated soils which will result in trees coming down and the potential for more power outages,” National Weather Service San Francisco Meteorologist Roger Grass told CNN.
“We still have road closures in the mountainous areas because of the sheer number of landslide and rockslides since we have been impacted by so many storm systems,” Grass said.
The impacts of this storm are further complicated by strong winds.
More than 10 million people are under a wind advisory in California and Oregon with gusts expected between 45 and 55 mph on Tuesday.
Because of the strong winds, near whiteout conditions are possible in parts of Northern California near Mount Shasta where 1 to 3 feet of snow could fall. Winter storm warnings are in effect for this region and other parts of California through Wednesday.
Amid the rain and snow, much of California will see highs in the 50s Tuesday, with some areas possibly tying or breaking daily records for the lowest high temperatures.
Statewide, the snowpack in California for the Sierras is currently at 228% of its normal amount for this time of year and this storm will only increase that margin. The Southern Sierras specifically have reached record levels, while the Central Sierra likely will by the end of the winter season.