Incredible Storm pounding West Coast of U.S

haven't seen this posted yet but is all over the weather channel, and other major media are starting to report on it now.

Forecasts are calling for up to 10 feet of snow between now and sunday nite in the high sierra above 7200 feet.

resorts like Kirkwood are getting creamed , here is the proof

www.kirkwood.com...

www.kirkwood.com...

18 wheeler's overturned in S.F ,CA and major bridges have been closed due to winds sustained at over 50 mph with gusts to 70 in the city

AS FAR AS THE SIERRA...WIDESPREAD BLIZZARD CONDITIONS EXPECTED BY LATE MORNING. WHILE SNOW LEVELS WILL BRIEFLY RISE THIS MORNING TO NEAR 6500 TO 7000 FEET...THE HEAVY PRECIPITATION RATES WILL QUICKLY BRING SNOW LEVELS DOWN STARTING AROUND NOON. EXTREMELY HEAVY SNOWFALL WITH WIND GUSTS UP TO 60 MPH OR MORE WILL MAKE ANY TRAVEL NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE AND LIFE THREATENING. IN ADDITION...RIDGE GUSTS OF UP TO 200 MPH WILL OCCUR. AS DAY SHIFT MENTIONED... SNOWFALL RATES OF 6 INCHES PER HOUR ARE LIKELY FOR A FEW HOURS...AND MAY EVEN BE HEAVIER AT TIMES

jeff morrow on the weather channel said in his twenty five years working he has *never seen a stronger CALI storm*

for weather geeks TWC has LIVE updates from 6300 feet in the lake tahoe area every half hour, and right now they are getting a snow/sleet mix but it should be a blizzard as snow levels lower by 3 pm eastern

blogs.usatoday.com...

as the storm dives south saturday flooding and mudslides will be a BIG PROBLEM in burn areas, get ready CALI , they are calling for 10 inches of rain in the southern Cali mountains below 6000 feet

(of course above that is alot of snow just above the bases at Big bear ski resort which is just east of San Bernadino.


[edit on 4-1-2008 by cpdaman]

WOW!! I was just watching the webcam on the first link and it was pretty normal stuff, then suddenly the whole camera got buried in snow. Check it out right now!

Ya, it sucks out here.

I'm in Southern Oregon, and we have had all kinds of accidents, power outages, and even a death or two from falling trees.

I have never personally experienced a storm such as this before, it
is just plain nasty, and of course this is just the beginning of the fun...

reply to post by mythatsabigprobe



If you watch for a few seconds you will occasionally see peope walking in the background. The camera lens is covered by snow, but it's not buried.

Not yet anyway...

Well, in Portland it is just a little gusty right now with showers. Nothing like the storm from a few weeks ago that flooded several counties in Northern Oregon and SW Washington.

Sounds like this one is mainly pounding CA.

Originally posted by Karlhungis
Well, in Portland it is just a little gusty right now with showers. Nothing like the storm from a few weeks ago that flooded several counties in Northern Oregon and SW Washington.

Sounds like this one is mainly pounding CA.

yes that seems correct, maybe the thread title should be changed from
....west coast to California.


i think a big story by late tommorrow will be the mudslides in S california

also i'm sure it's no day at the beach either probably looks something like this in N.Cali

www.youtube.com...

*note the above is old footage

I live near Sacramento and it's a pretty good storm.
Lot's of people have lost power.

We lost the roof to a shade structure in our back pasture. The horses won't have any shade this summer unless I rebuild it.

It's pretty windy. Hopefully, the rain will calm down later on today so I can do some basic repairs.

Sounds Mad! Stay safe all and let us know how things are,

Will for sure keep my eyes open for other storys on this,

Its not bad here. Its just really windy and the rain has been nonestop. Lots of tree limbs down etc.

Last night we suspended flight operations at the hospital and I don't think they are back up yet.

We really really need this rain however, as most watersheds are way below average levels and the snow pack in the Sierras is off as well. this will go a long way to fending off a drought.

www.sfgate.com...

[edit on 1/4/08 by FredT]

ben Lamond a city in the Santa Cruz mountains has had almost 9 inches of rain in the last 24 hours

[edit on 1/4/08 by FredT]

So, California is finding out what it's like to be the rest of the country. Save the citrus!

Storm seems to be subsiding somewhat in the Central Valley of California.

reply to post by OmegaFactorZ


And now it is picking up in the Northwest. Gusts are getting really strong now. Still not much rain thankfully.

No rain yet here in Long Beach - 20 miles south of Los Angeles - but the sky is really dark but there is no wind and it's dropped down to the 50's this afternoon. We'll see...!

Not to be a Naysayer or a skeptic, but I am a little tired of the local media's "STORMWATCH 2000- _enter year_ !!" segments everytime a little drizzle is headed our way (Orange County, CA). With respect to the Pacific Northwest or the Gulf States, the precipitation we can expect this weekend is nothing more than a few intermittent showers compared to the onslaught of real storms in the areas forementioned.

Whenever Southern California sees a little rain the only outcome is drivers here suddenly forget how to drive. Point being, I'm not nailing boards to windows, or stacking sandbags anytime soon as the media conitunues to promote "The Perfect Storm" scenario.....but we'll see I guess.

Disavowed

this is the weather forecast for your area, doesn't seem like a run of the mill shower or two, it forecasts 2-5 inches of rain (which for S. CAl is a ton)

orangecounty.cox.net...|Irvine|California&ne xt=map

perhaps you don't follow the weather too closely? where is your locale in orange county if you don't mind (meaning is it in a dry desert like area?)

just trying to understand some rationale for your comments

it seems your either in the desert or really don't understand the danger of this weather system


[edit on 4-1-2008 by cpdaman]

Our winds here in Nevada are starting to pick up. It's supposed to start raining around midnight. Mount Charleston will get several inches of snow.
It's been really dry here. If we get 2-5 inches of rain there will be severe flooding. Water doesn't soak in the ground. here. I'm high up and out of the flood zones. I pity the poor folks in the valley below. Our washes will fill up and run like raging rivers right in their path.

www.accuweather.com...

cool video on top of page showing footage of storm so far

estimates are about 6 feet of snow (for the "winners") so far with second colder piece of energy moving in late this afternoon thru sunday morning with another 1.5 to 3 feet of snow likely

Its a bad storm, but hardly the worst storm in the last 25 years, around here. It stopped raining last night not very windy at all, 5-7' of snow is not out of the ordinary for the sierra for a single storm.
I was in Bear valley(a ski resort in the central sierra, east of stockton ca 7,000'? at the town) about 10 yrs ago and between 11:30pm and 6:30 am the storm dropped 12-14' of snow. It covered the window of our second story bedroom.
That same year we got pounded by storm after storm, look up yosemite flood, there is a old bridge across the Merced river 40 miles down stream from yosemite valley, that is usually about 30-40' above the water. During the peak of the storm, the river was about 3-5' over the deck of the bridge. AND THE BRIDGE WAS BEING PULLED DOWN STREAM AT A 15 deg ANGLE.
I still dont see how that old riveted bridge survived.
About 15 years ago while trying to go to a mountain bike race in So cal.
, we got stopped by water running 2' deep on I-10, then later stranded on the freeway for about 8 hr by a flash flood in palm springs, then race site was completely washed away, and at 3 am as we were dropping into Hemet, we could see 4 funnel clouds swirling around, backlit by the city in the distance.
Whats more important is that this is a early spring pattern, and not the typical mid winter storm we usually get. The very distinct pulses of energy with idividual storms moving through are very typical of storms in late feb or early march, not the steady wide spread moderate rain that will stay around for several days that we usually see in dec/jan.
This series of storms should be here about presidents day weekend.
Its going to rain on the snow this year again and there will be flooding.

It way to warm for this time of year, and it shouldnt be raining right now.
It will usually start to rain a little around halloween, then taper off by mid dec. That sets up the 1-1/2 to 2 months of fog for the rest of dec, jan and early feb. One year we went 24 days with out seeing the sun at all.
If it is not foggy it usually bitterly cold, for here, with daytime temps in the low to mid 30's.
It will usually start to rain again for about a 2 month period in mid to late feb, usually around presidents day. These storms will start as arctic storms then later in the season they will transform into what is called the "pineapple express", cold dry arctic air mixing with warm wet storms from the subtropics, give us our spring "monsoon", the storms can be either cold or warm with potential for lots of rain most our years worth will fall in feb- april, when it shuts off it may not rain again for 7 months.
Then its summer and the sun wont go away, temps will hit the 105 deg range, for weeks on end, with a couple at 110+ and a few days of 115-117.
By the end of july it starts to cool off, to 100, but then the humidity sets in as subtropical moisture from the gulf of baja works its way up. We might see a few thunder storms but not enough to wet the ground, but its sticky and hot, 45% humidity, people in the more humid parts of the world will go 45%, thats nothing, but its usually around 15% here so its a killer when its higher, But I dont mind 110-115 deg heat in summer.
Sorry, started to drift,
My point is that this storm is 1-1/2-2 months early, and over the last 10 years there has been a steady progression of winter coming on later and ending sooner.

Originally posted by Anatomic Bomb
So, California is finding out what it's like to be the rest of the country.

Save the citrus!

Fwiw, California has more snowfall than any of the contigous 48 states.


What will help to an extent is that snow is sticking in the mountains which will be good for the drought situation and electrical generation.

As long as we don't have an overly warm spring and the runoff happens all at once.


Here in the N/W corner of Arizona - Kingman - we had a lot of wind last night, a couple of very short lived sprinkles and the rain didn't start until about 0900 this mornng.
Mostly a heavy mist until about an hour ago (1200 mst), light rain now.

They're expecting snow tomorrow night, our elevation is 3400'.

It will be interesting to see how high the Colorado river/Lake Mead goes.
A few weeks ago it was the lowest I've ever seen it.


Hoover Dam East side overlook.