Link: https://www.axios.com/2023/01/04/california-atmospheric-river-storm-wind-flooding
A potent atmospheric river storm associated with a bomb cyclone that brought heavy rains, damaging winds and a significant amount of mountain snowfall in California eased Thursday. 💬 "The next in this parade of Atmospheric River events is expected to arrive late Friday into northern California, spreading south to central California Saturday," the National Weather Service warned. "Heavy rainfall will lead to additional flooding and heavy mountain snow is expected in the Sierras."
The latest: An estimated 62,700-plus customers were without power in California and dozens of flights were delayed or canceled at San Francisco International Airport as of late Thursday due to the deadly storm.
State of play: Swaths of California were under flood warnings, advisories and watches, coastal flood warnings and winter storm warnings by the NWS. Widespread flooding of roadways has been reported in Los Angeles County as well as flooding from pounding surf up and down the California coastline. Damage was reported across the state Thursday, with Santa Cruz County reporting destruction to piers in Capitola and Seacliff. At least two people have died in California from the storm after a tree fell on a mobile home in Sonoma County and crushed a toddler and after a 19-year-old driver hydroplaned and fatally collided with a utility pole in the town of Fairfield.
Why it matters: The latest storm is one in a series of atmospheric river storms to hit the Golden State, with multiple subsequent disturbances set to spin up across the North Pacific in the coming weeks. The latest storm, on top of water-saturated soils, runoff from earlier rain, raised the threat of potentially significant flooding across central and Northern California that's expected to continue into next week. The dramatic swing from historically dry to very wet conditions in parts of California is in line with what climate change is expected to bring to the Golden State, studies show. (
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