Nearly 122,000 without power in California as storm brings rain, heavy snow, damaging winds
Written by ABC Audio All Rights Reserved on February 26, 2023
(LOS ANGELES) — Nearly 122,000 customers are without power in California as a major storm brings record rainfall, heavy snow and damaging winds. The storm will be moving from southern California across the entire country over the next few days, eventually moving northeast by Tuesday.
As of Saturday morning, more than 30 million Americans are under weather alerts in the West, ranging from blizzard warnings in the mountains near Los Angeles to wind chill alerts in the Northern Plains.
The Los Angeles area saw record rainfall on Friday, and it came along with 50- to 70-mile-per-hour winds. Burbank, California, saw 4.6 inches of rain Friday — stranding cars in floods and causing dozens of flight delays and cancellations.
Records for daily rainfall were also set at the Los Angeles International Airport and the cities of Fresno, Bakersfield, Modesto and Oxnard.
Heavy rain continues in southern California, with heavy snow in the mountains, mainly above 2,000 feet elevation. A few light snow showers may be found across the northeast this morning, with scattered minor accumulations.
Rain and snow will not be letting up on Saturday. More flooding rain is possible in the Los Angeles area, although the heaviest rain looks to move to the east of the city by end of day.
In the mountains, incredibly heavy snow is leading to treacherous travel. The central and southern Sierra Nevada Mountains are looking at an additional 2 to 4 feet of snow Saturday.
On Sunday, the majority of the rain from this major storm will be moving through Arizona, bringing rain in the “lower elevations” and snow in the mountainous terrain. Meanwhile, another wave of rain and snow will arrive in northern California during the morning hours, with precipitation from Sacramento all the way north to Seattle.
That storm moves eastward by Sunday, but will deliver a severe weather threat to Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas on Sunday afternoon. Tornadoes and damaging winds are possible.
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