Forecasters warn of worsening weather in California
2023.03.09 13:18
Forecasters warn of worsening weather in California
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – On Thursday, a approaching storm that could bring heavy downpours and widespread flooding to many parts of California, including mountainous areas that had already received a near-record amount of snow, posed a threat to millions of Californians.
The National Weather Service (NWS) predicted in its forecast that the storm known as an atmospheric river could bring as much as 3 inches (8 cm) of rain to the San Francisco Bay area and the Central Coast from Thursday through the weekend, following weeks of unusually bad weather on the West Coast.
Six inches of rain could fall on hilly inland areas and some coastal ranges that have been inundated with snow in recent weeks. The service added that the Santa Lucia Mountains, along the coast near Big Sur, and the Santa Cruz Mountains, south of San Jose, were both anticipated to receive up to 10 inches of rain.
William Churchill, a meteorologist with the NWS Weather Prediction Center, stated, “Most of the flooding concerns are for the lower-lying areas susceptible to rapid river and stream rises.” It’s actually a mix of this weighty precipitation coming and furthermore quickly softening snow.”
Atmospheric river storms like the one that is predicted are like rivers in the sky that dump a lot of rain and can cause flooding, mudslides, death, and a lot of damage to property.
Experts assert that human-caused climate change is reflected in the increasing intensity and frequency of such storms and extreme droughts. While minimizing the increased risks of floods and wildfires, the storms make it more challenging to manage California’s precious water supplies.
From the end of December to the middle of January, California was hit hard by nine of these storms, causing widespread flooding, mudslides, rockfalls, and sinkholes. The earlier storms were responsible for at least 20 deaths.
The weather system that is about to arrive is fairly warm. According to forecasters, it will bring rain and strong winds to low-lying areas of northern and central California as well as mid-elevation mountain areas still struggling to recover from back-to-back blizzards that, in some instances, dumped more than 100 inches (2.5 meters) of snow.
On Thursday, the weather service issued excessive-rainfall and flood advisories to more than 15 million people in the metropolitan areas surrounding Sacramento and San Francisco Bay as well as other parts of the region. In California, some watches and warnings would remain in effect until Sunday.
Along major rivers and their tributaries, some waterfront communities also prepared for overflowing streams caused by heavy rain and snowmelt runoff.
In anticipation of “this rain-on-snow event,” Sheriff Mike Boudreaux in Tulare County issued an evacuation warning on Wednesday for homes and businesses along a section of the Kings River that drains the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
The NWS also issued “prepare now” warnings to people who live along the Big Sur, Carmel, Salinas, and Pajaro rivers.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that workers were rushing to shore up flood-weakened levees that had been breached during a previous storm along the Cosumnes River south of Sacramento earlier this year.
According to forecaster Churchill, higher-elevation mountain areas above approximately 8,000 feet (2,400 meters) were anticipated to receive even more snow or snow mixed with rain, posing the risk of widespread roof damage to older structures due to the increasing weight of frozen precipitation.
Even though they were destructive, this winter’s storms have eased a historic four-year dry spell in California. They have also refilled some reservoirs that had been severely depleted and the Sierra snowpack, which is a crucial source of fresh water for the state.
