Dangerous western storm
 

Dangerous western storm

2:44 p.m. ET 1/4/08
M. Ressler, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel
Severe Weather Outlook http://image.weather.com/web/common/...deo_icon_s.gif Submit your own video http://image.weather.com/web/multimedia/videosubmit.gif OAS_AD('MapSpon') <!--<IMG SRC="http://image.weather.com/web/blank.gif" WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=420 NAME="holdspace" ID="holdspace" BORDER=0 ALT="">--> if (isMinNS4) { var mapNURL = "/maps/news/severewinterforecast/index_newscenter.html"; } The strongest in a series of storm systems is plowing into the West with its impacts spreading far inland to the Rockies this weekend. Already, the wind and heavy rains have hit Oregon and particularly the northern half of California. Winds in the coastal mountains either side of the Oregon-California border gusted over 150 mph during the morning. Winds gusted to just over 100 mph on the hill tops around Oakland and San Francisco, causing tree and power line damage. Winds have also gusted to between 60 and 80 mph in the Redding and Sacramento areas. The most homes without power are in the Sacramento area. In the Columbia River Basin, winds gusted to near 80 mph in Walla Walla, Washington, causing damage.
Heavy rain totals in the coastal mountains north of San Francisco have reached 8 inches.
Heavy rain is gradually shifting southward from northern California into central California and finally into Southern California. Rain totals will range from 2 to 5 inches in the valleys and along the coast to as much as 1 foot in the coastal mountains. Flash flooding is likely along the entire California coast and will not be confined to burn areas.
Snow levels will plummet in the northern California mountains and the Sierra now through Saturday morning with levels reaching valley floors over northern California.
A foot or two of snow will fall in parts of the Cascades of Washington and Oregon. In the mountains of California, hourly snowfall rates could reach 6 to 8 inches. Snow accumulations between 2 feet (valley floors) and locally 12 feet (ridge tops) will bury the Sierra by the end of the weekend. White-out, blizzard conditions will make any travel through the Siskiyou and Sierra Mountains deadly.
Damagingly strong wind gusts will continue over California especially in the vicinity of a dtrong cold front, ranging from between 50 and 70 mph at the lowest elevations to as high as between 150 and 200 mph at the ridge tops of the Sierra. Strong and damaging winds will also impact western Washington and most of Oregon, where winds could gust over 60 mph.
Swells along the Washington, Oregon and northern California coasts will peak between 30 and 35 feet overnight and high surf warnings have been issued. Snow and damaging winds will increase through interior parts of the West this weekend, impacting Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and the Colorado Rockies. Several feet of snow could fall at the higher elevations with wind gusts to over 80 mph.
Heavy rain may reach into the Desert Southwest this weekend, including the Las Vegas area and the lower Colorado River Valley. Rain and mountain snow will also increase over parts of Arizona and New Mexico.

Thanks to supposed "global warming", the East doesn't have much snow. Hence, no skiing for me this winter break :(

I had sustained 65 Mph winds at my place and lost two trees on my property. My new redwood fence I built this summer almost lost the large gate. the 2x4 which served as a gate bolt snapped in two and the 12' gate was swinging in the wind for some time. I'm glad I overbuilt the fence with 8X8 pressure treated redwood posts.

we just went skiing in NY :nanana:

huh? upstate NY and VT have plenty of snow.... i went skiing yesterday and this morning....

I could have planned a trip to go skiing this week in upstate NY, but there haven't been any major snowstorms (correct me if I'm wrong, I returned from a weeklong trip Thursday) that have blown thru. I'm holding out till later on in Feburary, hopeful that there'll be some massive blizzard.

It's 15C/58F today. Hardly January weather..........it's annoying when the weather switches between cold and warm. Sometimes I'm glad I put the winter wheels on the 325i and X3, other times I feel like an idiot when the weather's like today.

Hunter has been blowing all week at night, and VT (killington and mt snow) got dumped on a few times since christmas and are blowing.

In the North East, the ski areas blow almost every night. This week's warm weather is going to hurt Hunter, but VT areas should be ok.

I wouldn't wait for a big blizzard to hit, you'll miss a lot of good skiing.

Just make sure that your edges are sharp :)

I just picked up a pair of Salomon X-wing Tornados, awesome all mountain ski, rode them for the first time yesterday and I'm pretty happy with them.

I'm not a pro skiier or anything, but I kinda like to ski at least once a year, so I don't totally forget.

I'm not a huge fan of the man-made snow. I've been to places in western and central PA many years ago, and it wasn't that impressive. Mont Tremblant, with its seemingly endless powder, was amazing. It actually spoiled my taste, and now I think anything south of upstate NY is rubbish. But I don't think i'll have the time to travel to Canada this year, and the unfavourable US-CAD exchange rates don't help. (When we went to China, no one really wants the Greenback anymore. When giving tips, our tour guide said he'd probably exchange them for the local RMB ASAP!)

Its been raining really hard at night here in so. california. It sounded like it was raining marbles.

i am not a great skiier by any means but one of the reasons i still go is just the beauty of the mountains....i've yet to find any resorts that match the snow found it utah...one resort ALTA seemed to have sunshine and fresh powder every morning....the lifts at Deer Valley were faster but the snow at Alta, Snowbird was intense.....We're headed for Snowshoe,WV for 2 weeks next month so we'll see how that goes....