Blockbuster California storm to deliver crushing blow of 10 feet of snow and blizzard conditions

[Spartan]

 

 

An extremely-dangerous winter storm has arrived in California and will unload feet of snow, powerful winds and rare blizzard conditions in the mountains through the weekend.

The storm will bury California under its biggest snowfall of the year, posing a significant danger to travelers – but provide a huge boost for the state’s water supply and tourism.

“There are only so many ways that we can say it will be treacherous to be traveling on the roads or even exiting your home during this [storm],” the National Weather Service office in Reno, Nevada, warned Wednesday. “Whiteout conditions are very disorienting, so this is not the time to gamble with you or your family’s lives.”

Snow began to fall in the Pacific Northwest late Wednesday and spread into California’s Northern Coast Range, the Klamath Mountains and the Sierra Nevada early Thursday. As snow continues to spread across California, so will strong winds and blizzard conditions.

Snowfall rates are expected to reach extreme levels of 3 to 5 inches an hour from Friday through Saturday – especially along the Sierra Nevada.

The prolonged extreme snowfall means 6 to 10 feet of snow could bury parts of the Sierra in just a matter of two to three days.

[Spartan]

Storm will provide much-needed boost to critical snowpack

California’s Sierra Nevada snowpack got off to a slow start this winter.

“We’ve definitely been playing a catch up game [with the snowpack in the Sierra],” Edan Lindaman, a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno, told CNN.

But recent storms have helped make a difference. Parts of the Sierra are closing in on erasing the snowpack deficit, according to Lindaman.

Given the colossal amount of snow forecast to entomb the Sierra through the weekend, there’s a “good chance” to close the snowpack gap or exceed what’s typical, Lindaman added.

Snowpack is a vital water source, and surveys conducted by California’s Department of Water Resources help the state forecast how much water will be available for the remainder of the year.

Millions of people in the West depend on a melting snowpack in the warmer months for hydropower, irrigation and drinking water, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.