A historic weather front that slammed a wide swath of Southern California with stunning snow, record rains and flooding that prompted air rescues eased its grip Sunday – but more harsh weather was on the way.
Tens of millions of Americans were also bracing for dangerous conditions, from ice storms in Michigan to tornadoes in Texas.
In California, a new storm was forecast to bring rain and snow as soon as Sunday night, the National Weather Service said. The snow won’t sweep down to the edge of coastal cities as it did in recent days, but this week’s forecast for Los Angeles does call for high temperatures in the low 50s – about 15 degrees below normal.
About 75,000 homes and businesses in the state remained without power Sunday after days of fierce winds, rains and snow that toppled trees and downed power lines.
“A remarkable storm the last few days with historic amounts of precip and snow down to elevations that rarely see snow,” forecasters with the weather service in Los Angeles wrote.
Meteorologist Mark Moede said the winter storm will “exit Southern California this morning and there will be a brief break in the weather” but that rain and mountain snow are expected to return Monday through Wednesday.
Developments:
• More than 7 inches of rain fell in Ventura County northwest of Los Angeles, causing flash flooding that left cars stranded on roadways Saturday.
• Los Angeles Fire Department ground and air responders rescued four people and five animals from flooding in Encino, about 25 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
• At the peak of the storm, up to 10 inches of rain fell in lower elevations and some mountain areas were blasted with more than 5 feet of snow.
A BLIZZARD IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA:What to know about weird weekend weather.
Michigan struggles with outages, braces for next storm
More than 300,000 homes and businesses remained in the dark across Michigan on Sunday, days after storms knocked out power to close to 1 million customers. And another round of severe weather could be headed to the region Monday.
The weather service said the “potential continues” for strong wind gusts accompanied by sleet, freezing rain and potentially heavy snowfall. The weather service in Grand Rapids warned that more power outages were possible and commutes could be messy.
“Bad: Additional freezing rain & ice accumulation expected Monday,” the weather service tweeted. “Good: Accumulations should be less and stay north of ice storm impacted areas.”
Texas, Oklahoma could see strong tornadoes
High wind watches and warnings extended to more than 60 million Americans from Ohio to New Mexico. An extensive swath of severe thunderstorms that could fuel winds in excess of 75 mph was expected to slam the eastern Texas Panhandle across parts of Oklahoma to the western Ozarks region.
“A derecho is forecast with widespread damaging winds and embedded swaths of significant severe gusts,” said Roger Edwards, a forecaster with the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center. Derechos carry high winds and move fast on a straight line.
Edwards added that a few tornadoes also are possible “with potential for significant/EF2+ damage.” EF2 tornadoes drive winds of up to 135 mph.
GALLERY:Winter storm hits High Desert
Snow stuns residents of some California cities
A mix of warm atmospheric river air and cold air from Alaska conspired to bring a dusting of snow to high desert areas of Southern California valleys Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. Rare snow fell Saturday in Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana in San Bernardino County. With snow reaching down from the mountains to as low as 1,000 feet, the hills around Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles, were white. Snow also surprised residents of inland suburbs.
In the mountains, the University of California, Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab said the four-day total near Donner Summit in the Sierra Nevada had reached more than 56 inches.
“Snow will pickup again tomorrow with several substantial storms expected to drop another 5-10 feet through Weds!” the lab tweeted.
Los Angeles sees more than 2 inches of rain in one day
Downtown Los Angeles saw 2.29 inches of rain Friday, making it the wettest February day in 20 years, AccuWeather reported. The single-day rainfall was more than 20 times greater than the total rainfall from the past three Februarys, which combined for only 0.10 of an inch.
Southern California has seen days of unprecedented storms – San Diego issued its first-ever blizzard warning Friday and Los Angeles issued its first such warning in 34 years. In Northern California, the San Francisco Bay Area saw a light dusting of snow and Yosemite National Park was closed through March 1 because of winter weather.
Contributing: The Associated Press
USA TODAY
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