It follows a US bomb cyclone that hit the central and eastern United States, delivering massive snowstorms and temperatures as low as -45C.
Parts of California have experienced heavy precipitation and snowfall just days after a devastating bomb cyclone devastated the United States.
As Californians prepared to ring in the New Year, officials issued evacuation orders for parts of the state’s northern regions due to the threat of floods.
As much as 3.7 inches (9.3 centimeters) of precipitation fell throughout the day on Saturday, with the heaviest rainfall occurring in the vicinity of Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay region.
On Saturday afternoon, rainfall in downtown San Francisco exceeded 3.3 inches (8.3cm), one of the greatest daily totals since 1994.
On Saturday, a portion of the historic US 101 Highway to the south of the city was also closed due to floods, as shown in photographs.
Some rainfall totals in the San Francisco Bay region exceeded 4 inches (10cm), while as much as 5.3 inches (14cm) was recorded to the east of Sacramento, towards the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
One woman was observed being rescued from a vehicle that had become submerged in floodwater in the San Francisco suburb of Pleasant Hill. Other photographs depict the closure of roads in northern California due to rock falls.
According to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, as many as 153,000 customers were without power in the Sacramento region on Saturday (SMUD).
Meanwhile, in the Sierra Nevada mountain range to the east, forecasters predicted up to 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow.
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Sacramento issued a warning about hazardous driving conditions and released images of snow-covered mountain passes on Twitter.
The wet weather pattern is referred to as an “atmospheric river storm” because it draws a long and extensive plume of moisture from the Pacific Ocean.
Courtney Carpenter, a meteorologist, stated that the storm might drop over an inch of precipitation in the Sacramento region before moving south.
It is the first of several storms that are predicted to hit California within the next week.
The present system is anticipated to be warmer and wetter, whereas next week’s storms will be colder, according to meteorologist Hannah Chandler-Cooley of the NWS in Sacramento.
It follows a US bomb cyclone that hit the central and eastern United States, delivering massive snowstorms and temperatures as low as -45C.
At the end of December, more than 200 million people, or roughly 60% of the US population, were under some type of winter weather advisory or warning, with the National Weather Service dubbing it a “historic winter storm.”
At least 57 people were killed by the storm in the United States, while four more were killed in Canada when a bus overturned on ice roads in British Columbia.
In the United States, 28 deaths occurred in the state of New York, with the majority occurring in Erie County, where the main metropolis Buffalo was severely affected.
