New York, Europe Brief News – A slow-moving winter storm has struck the West Coast, flooding highways in Los Angeles and prompting rare blizzard warnings in Southern California.
The worst conditions from the storm are expected from late Friday into early Saturday, and AccuWeather meteorologists say it could cause significant disruptions to travel.
In its first-ever blizzard warning, the National Weather Service in San Diego said the San Bernardino County mountains could see also 3 to 5 feet of snow through Saturday morning.
A large and disruptive storm system tracking south just offshore of the West Coast on Thursday 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.
