Atmospheric river storm pounds California but worst yet to come

California – Heavy rainfall and hurricane-force winds pounded much of California on Feb 4, knocking out power for 900,000 households and threatening serious floods as forecasters expect the storm to stall over major cities for the next day or two.

The storm is the second “Pineapple Express” weather system

– so called for the warm, subtropical moisture it brings from Hawaii – to hit the western US state in the past week. The atmospheric river storm arrived just as Los Angeles welcomed celebrities for the music industry’s Grammy awards, where the red carpet was tented but other attendees were forced to slog through heavy rain in glitzy cocktail attire, some with only a handbag for an umbrella.

The severe conditions prompted the National Weather Service’s (NWS) Bay Area office to issue a rare hurricane-force wind warning for Big Sur and nearby areas.

The rain led to the cancellation of the final round of the professional golf tournament at Pebble Beach in Northern California’s Monterey County.

As heavy rain was forecast for Feb 5, the PGA Tour ended the event after only three days, naming American golfer Wyndham Clark the winner.

California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in eight counties with a combined population of more than 20 million people, and flash flood warnings were issued for parts of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told a news conference: “This has the potential to be a historic storm – severe winds, thunderstorms and even brief tornadoes.”

The San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles county were not only getting drenched but the storm was also expected to stall or reverse course over some areas on Feb 6, creating severe risk of flooding and mudslides.

“The Monday evening commute is going to be a complete disaster, to say the least. In fact, it’s going to be bad enough that I would recommend everybody stay home in Los Angeles if we possibly can,” University of California Los Angeles’ climate scientist Daniel Swain said in a live stream on Feb 4.

The NWS recorded peak wind gusts of 129kmh or higher in some places.

More than 900,000 homes and businesses lacked electricity on Feb 4 afternoon, according to the PowerOutage.us website.

Near Los Angeles, the port city of Long Beach could get more rain this week than it does during an entire year, said Mayor Rex Richardson, who is expecting 13cm to 18cm starting on Feb 4 until Feb 6.

Residents in California’s southern and central coasts are bracing themselves for 2.5cm of rain an hour and totals of 7cm to 15cm. The United States National Weather Service said up to 15cm to 30cm of rain can be expected in the foothills and lower-elevation mountains.

The Los Angeles and Santa Barbara areas were both at high risk of excessive rainfall on Feb 4 and Feb 5, with forecasters anticipating “near continuous rainfall” for the next 48 hours.

Evacuation orders were issued for some of those counties’ residents, as well as people in the San Jose region, Ventura County and two areas of Los Angeles County that previously suffered wildfires, which have made the denuded terrain more vulnerable to mudslides. REUTERS