Meteorologists at the National Weather Service (NWS) Climate Prediction Center are tracking another storm that could potentially bring "hazardous" precipitation to California at the end of next week.
The threat of another moisture-laden storm comes after two back-to-back atmospheric rivers battered the Golden State over the last week. The first of the two storms arrived last Thursday. Meteorologists were more concerned about the second atmospheric river, which arrived on Sunday and wreaked havoc with severe rain, snow and high winds.
The first system brought a deluge of rain that saturated the ground, making it prone to flooding with the second system. Catastrophic flooding did occur, particularly in Los Angeles County after more than 7 inches of rain fell. Now, the NWS Climate Prediction Center says that another impactful storm could bring rain and damaging winds to nearly the entire state.
Atmospheric rivers are a "long, narrow region in the atmosphere—like rivers in the sky—that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
California experienced more than a dozen atmospheric rivers last winter. Although the heavy rain alleviated much of the state's years-long drought, it also contributed to devastating flooding, mudslides and landslides throughout the state.
"There is an increased potential for heavy rain, high winds, and flooding for California and Arizona, along with heavy snow at higher elevations," a message from the NWS Climate Prediction Center said, adding that the storm could arrive as soon as next Friday.
Although the storm is still a week away, meteorologists said there is a high risk with a 60 percent chance or higher for "hazardous, heavy precipitation across California, with heavy snow in the higher elevations," from next Saturday, February 17, to Monday, February 19.
"The heavy precipitation could lead to localized flooding, particularly in regions that have saturated soils from precipitation earlier in February," the message read. "Shallow landslides and rock falls are always possible in California during periods of heavy rainfall in the winter." Newsweek reached out to the Climate Prediction Center by email for comment.
A map on the Climate Prediction Center's website shows that precipitation is expected to be above-average for the western U.S., including all of California and into Oregon, Nevada and Arizona over the next six to 10 days. Southern Texas also is predicted to have above-average precipitation. A slight chance for above-average precipitation exists for the western half of the U.S., and the Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast are expected to have below-average precipitation.
About the writer
Anna Skinner is a Newsweek senior reporter based in Indianapolis. Her focus is reporting on the climate, environment and weather ... Read more
