California faces more blizzards and floods in a multistate storm

A almighty wintertime tempest lashing California threatened floods, blizzards and avalanches Saturday portion adding frigid temperatures to the misery mix.

Overnight lows could driblet beneath freezing successful immoderate areas portion downtown San Francisco could spot record-breaking acold temperatures Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Projected temperatures of 38 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) would spot the metropolis astatine its coldest since 2009, the upwind work said.

Flash flood warnings were issued from Friday done 1 a.m. oregon 2 a.m. Saturday successful Los Angeles and Ventura counties, a portion with immoderate 6 cardinal people. The upwind work said flash flooding was occurring precocious Friday successful Ventura County, wherever up to 7 inches (18 centimeters) inches of rainfall had fallen and up to 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) were imaginable earlier the tempest turned showery connected Saturday afternoon.

In Los Angeles County, forecasters said life-threatening flash flooding was imaginable adjacent creeks, streams, municipality areas, highways and areas that were burned by wildfires. The menace portion included downtown L.A., Hollywood, Beverly Hills and galore suburbs.

"Shallow landslides and mudslides are expected," the upwind work said.

Despite the dense downpour, nary superior problems were instantly reported.

Rain falling astatine up to an inch an hr raised the fearfulness of flooding oregon mudslides. Evacuation warnings were issued successful immoderate burn-scarred areas and for a mile-long agelong of Oceano, which lies connected the cardinal seashore adjacent a levee that overflowed during storms past month. Residents were urged to beryllium acceptable to fly astatine abbreviated notice.

Meanwhile, radical farther eastbound were struggling to woody with the fallout from storms earlier this week.

More than a half-million radical successful Michigan were inactive without powerfulness precocious Friday night, days aft 1 of the worst crystal storms successful decades caused wide powerfulness outages by knocking down immoderate 3,000 ice-coated powerfulness lines.

Promises of powerfulness restoration by Sunday, erstwhile debased temperatures were expected to ascent backmost supra zero (minus 18 Celsius), were of small consolation.

"That's 4 days without powerfulness successful specified weather," said Apurva Gokhale, of Walled Lake, Michigan. "It's unthinkable."

Back successful California, the Weather Prediction Center of the National Weather Service predicted dense snowfall implicit the Cascade Mountains and the Sierra Nevada into the weekend.

California's vino state wasn't spared from the uncommon brew of upwind and snow. Mark Neal told KPIX-TV that helium woke up Friday greeting to spot a ft (30.4 centimeters) of snowfall — much than he'd seen successful much than 40 years — and dozens of his oak trees snapped successful half.

"It's beauteous overmuch a battleground if you look astatine it. Some of them are implicit 200 years old," helium said. Luckily, the vines were safely dormant.

The low-pressure strategy pushing the atmospheric stream disconnected the Pacific Ocean into cardinal and Southern California connected Friday was driving inland and is expected to bring wide rainfall and snowfall into confederate Nevada by Saturday day and past crossed northwest Arizona Saturday nighttime and Sunday morning, the National Weather Service bureau successful Las Vegas said.

An avalanche informing was issued for the Sierra Nevada backcountry astir Lake Tahoe, which straddles the California-Nevada border. Nearly 2 feet (61 cm) of caller snowfall had fallen by Friday and up to different 5 feet (1.5 meters) was expected erstwhile different tempest moves successful with the imaginable for gale-force winds and high-intensity flurries Sunday, the upwind work said.

In Arizona, the heaviest snowfall was expected precocious Saturday done midday Sunday, with up to a ft of caller snowfall imaginable successful Flagstaff, forecasters said.

Weekend snowfall besides was forecast for parts of the precocious Midwest to the Northeast, with pockets of freezing rainfall implicit immoderate areas of the cardinal Appalachians. The tempest was expected to scope the cardinal precocious Plains by Sunday evening.

Yet the acold upwind blasting the North and West has avoided the confederate states, starring to chaotic temperatures differences. The precocious somesthesia for the U.S. connected Friday was 93 degrees Fahrenheit (34 degrees Celsius) astatine Falcon Lake, Texas, portion the debased was minus-35 degrees Fahrenheit (1.7 Celsius) adjacent Huntley, Montana.

The wintry blasts person led to hundreds of cancelled flights astatine airports astir the state and unopen down miles of large highways successful respective states.

In California, immoderate motorists were trapped overnight connected snowy, icy State Route 17, a large roadworthy successful the San Francisco Bay Area mountains, earlier it reopened Friday morning.

Interstate 5, the West Coast's large north-south highway, was closed southbound of the Oregon borderline arsenic snowfall fell to the level of the Sacramento Valley. The Grapevine, a precocious upland walk northbound of Los Angeles, was closed for much than 12 hours. After reopening Friday evening, postulation crept done nether constabulary escort and determination was a accidental of much closures arsenic forecasters predicted beardown winds starring to blizzard conditions successful upland ranges and passes.

Much of a agelong long of Interstate 80 remained closed astir of Friday implicit the apical of the Sierra Nevada upland scope betwixt Sacramento, California, and Reno, Nevada.

Harsh upwind prompted Los Angeles County to support its exigency shelters unfastened into March arsenic upwind chill was expected to driblet play temperatures beneath freezing successful the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys. The county's ample stateless colonisation was astatine peculiar risk.

At slightest 3 radical person died successful the coast-to-coast storms. A Michigan firefighter died Wednesday aft coming successful interaction with a downed powerfulness line, portion successful Rochester, Minnesota, a pedestrian died aft being deed by a city-operated snowplow. Authorities successful Portland, Oregon, said a idiosyncratic died of hypothermia.

Much of Portland was unopen down with icy roads not expected to thaw until Saturday aft the city's second-heaviest snowfall connected grounds this week: astir 11 inches (28 centimeters).

Tim Varner sat huddled with blankets successful a Portland storefront doorway shielding him from immoderate of the wind, crystal and snow. Local officials opened six overnight shelters but the 57-year-old, who has been stateless for 2 decades, said it was excessively hard to propulsion a buying cart containing his belongings to scope one.

"It's impossible," helium said. "The snowfall gets built up connected the wheels of your cart and past you find slippery spots and can't get nary traction. So you're stuck."