New York, Europe Brief News – Already walloped by an unusually snowy storm last week, California is now facing even more wintry precipitation.
Several feet of snow fell in parts of Southern California starting Thursday and continued through the weekend, particularly in more mountainous regions.
The Mountain High Ski Resort, located in the San Gabriel mountains about an 80-mile drive northeast of Los Angeles, recorded 93 inches of snow. Other high-elevation areas saw more than 5 feet of heavy snow and are still digging out.
Satellite images from NASA’s Earth Observatory showed the vast blankets of snow that fell in parts of Southern California.
Last week, a large and disruptive storm system tracking south just offshore of the West Coast was bringing some impacts to California. As the storm zeroes in on the southern part of the Golden State, it is forecast to ramp up in intensity into Saturday and produce heavy rain, snow and even rare blizzard conditions in the mountains around the Los Angeles area.
AccuWeather meteorologists warn that this storm has the potential to be the most impactful storm of the winter, and perhaps in a number of years, for Southern California due to the risks of flooding, snow in low elevations and widespread travel disruptions.
Heavy rain also fell Friday afternoon in Los Angeles and flooding shut down numerous thoroughfares the area.
The NWS issued a flash flood warning for the city – the second highest level of flood warning from the NWS, only topped by a flood emergency.
