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New Scale Will Measure Atmospheric Rivers In California From 1 To 5, Like Hurricanes

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Alejandra Reyes-Velarde

Marty Ralph was sitting in a San Francisco restaurant a couple of years ago when the morning forecast came on the TV, showing the typical weather symbols indicating what the week ahead would bring: a sun, a cloud, a rainy cloud and a darker, more ominous rainy cloud. Ralph, the director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, knew that at the end of the week, an intense atmospheric river storm was coming through the area. But he didn’t think the TV meteorologists could convey that very well with the icons on the screen. So he and a team of researchers got to work creating a ranking system that would be more helpful.

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All Yosemite Roads Closed; 7 Feet Of New Sierra Nevada Snow

/in , /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)by Paul Rogers

All roads in and out of Yosemite National Park were closed Tuesday due to heavy snow and fallen trees, following four days of winter storms that blanketed the Sierra Nevada mountains. Some ski resorts near Lake Tahoe received 7 feet or more between Friday and Tuesday morning. “We’ve had incidents throughout the park,” said Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman. “We’ve had trees come down. We’ve had vehicles slide off the road. Power is out at Wawona.” Gediman said all hotel reservations for Tuesday evening have been cancelled. The park’s ski area at Badger Pass also was closed Tuesday.

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All This Rain Has Made a Big Dent in the Drought

/in , /by /SF Weeklyby Peter Lawrence Kane

How stormy has California been? Stormy enough that parts of Orange County got two inches of rain, enough to force Disneyland to close early,something the park hardly ever does. (This was unrelated to the guy jumping off Space Mountain last Thursday, temporarily shutting down that ride.) Here in San Francisco, we got 1.13 inches between Saturday and Sunday, with more this morning. If you were even slightly late to work today, your cuffs probably got soaked, since it was pouring hard downtown right around 9 a.m. But all this rain has led to another positive consequence for our abnormally-dry-is-the-new-normal state: The low-level drought has abated significantly.

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Huge Storms are Slamming California with Torrents of Rain and Heaps of Snow

/in , /by /The Washington Postby Ian Livingston

The second in major storm systems is battering California and other parts of the West Coast. It’s unleashing strong winds, heavy rain and massive amounts of mountain snow. Much of the state has already seen 200 to 400-plus percent of normal precipitation over the past week, and the same region is also generally running well above normal year-to-date. All this moisture has translated to over six feet of new snow in parts of the Sierra mountain range, and it’s still falling.

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Here’s How California’s 6 Feet of Snow in 24 Hours Compares to Other Snowfall Extremes

/in , /by /The Weather Channelby Chris Dolce and Brian Donegan

Incredible amounts of snow have fallen throughout parts of the Mountain West since last Friday after a one-two punch from winter storms Kai and Lucian. The Sierra Nevada, straddling the border between California and Nevada, has been particularly hard-hit, where one ski resort tallied 6 feet of snow in just one day. Taking that crown is June Mountain, east of Yosemite National Park. June Mountain reported 72 inches of new snow in the 24 hours ending 9 a.m. PST Sunday morning.

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San Diego County to Get Foot of Snow, Heavy Rain in ‘Full On’ Day of Winter Tuesday

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Gary Robbins

Tuesday’s weather forecast contains a sentence not often heard in San Diego County: We’re going to have a day of full-on winter. A distinct river of uncommonly cold, moist air will flow through the region, bringing heavy snow to parts of Mount Laguna and Palomar Mountain, and about half as much to some lower elevations. The mountain peaks could wind up with a foot of snow between late Monday and late Tuesday, while areas like Julian could get a half-foot, said the National Weather Service.

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Potent Winter Storm Brings Snow to the Mountains, Rain Everywhere Else

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Gary Robbins and Karen Kucher

The tail of a potent Pacific storm is dropping snow across the San Diego County mountains and rain virtually everywhere else on what is expected to be the final day of nearly a week of cool, stormy weather. The National Weather Service predicted up to 8 inches of snow would fall in the mountains and as much as 6 inches in Julian. There could be up to 2 inches at the 2,500 foot level, forecasters said. The system also was expected to drop a quarter-inch of rain at and near the coast, and twice that across inland valleys and foothills, adding to the fall and winter bounty.

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SCV Ratepayers Asked to Limit Outdoor Water Use – Not a Problem

/in , /by /The Signal (Santa Clarita, Calif.)by Jim Holt

As Santa Clarita Valley residents emerge from the second straight week of rain, local water officials have made a reasonable request to limit outdoor water use and to curtail lawn-watering. Specifically, SCV Water officials have asked customers to limit outdoor water use until Feb. 9 while they carry out annual maintenance on facilities at Castaic Lake. During the shutdown, SCV Water will also upgrade its connection to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s Foothill Feeder, part of the system that delivers water from Castaic Lake to SCV Water for treatment and distribution for urban use.

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More Rain? Storm Brings Mudflows, Rock Slides, a Blizzard to Southern California

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Javier Panzar

Rams fans won’t have Southern California’s blue skies and sunshine to comfort them after the team’s 13-3 Super Bowl loss to New England on Sunday. Scattered showers and snow in the mountains are expected throughout the Southland through Tuesday night as back-to-back cold troughs of low pressure move over the area, according to the National Weather Service. By noon, the heaviest rains had passed through Ventura and Los Angeles counties and a flash flood warning issued from Thousand Oaks and Agoura Hills to Pacific Coast Highway had been lifted.

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Scattered Showers, Wind and High Surf to Impact San Diego County Ahead of Third Storm Cell

/in , /by /10 News (San Diego)by Zac Self

Scattered showers are expected to continue Sunday as the second storm moves out, making way for a third storm system to move in Sunday evening. According to the National Weather Service, rain will continue throughout the afternoon Sunday before a third storm cell brings lighter precipitation Monday and Tuesday. “The showers could linger into Wednesday morning. When all is said and done, we could see up to 1.5″ of rain along our valleys and coast,” the 10News Pinpoint Weather Team said.

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