Another atmospheric river is expected to impact California this week.
The National Weather Service in Los Angeles has predicted that another large winter storm will impact California on March 21. This storm is expected to bring snow in the mountains, heavy rain, and damaging winds.
A previous atmospheric river in recent weeks brought more rain on top of worsening winter conditions, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. Authorities in California reported at least 12 dead after the onset of the initial storm.
This new atmospheric river is expected to arrive on March 21 at 5:00 a.m. and last until 5:00 p.m. on March 22.
Low mountains and foothills across the region are expected to receive two to four inches of rain, while areas like coasts and valleys could see between one and three inches.
“Just because of the repeated amounts of precipitation that we’ve gotten, and a lot of systems just going back to back, we have very saturated soils and even small amounts of rain are probably going to cause flooding in low-lying areas and rural areas,” said Antoinette Serato with the National Weather Service in San Joaquin Valley.
In terms of snowfall, areas above 6,000 feet could see between two to four feet of snow along with a significant risk of avalanches.
Risks associated with this new weather system also include high surf and flooding near the coast.
Officials from the state’s Office of Emergency Services warned civilians to gather supplies and be ready in the event of power outages or notice of evacuation.
The NWS is confident that these storm systems have broken multiple records but requires a break in the storms in order to quantify the degree and amount of records broken. The agency does not currently see an end in sight to precipitation across the state.
“There will be breaks, but just in terms of systems that will keep impacting us, with the six to ten-day outlook, it looks like we’re going to have above-normal precipitation continue,” said Serato.
Citizens are advised to avoid non-essential travel during the peak of the storms.