California storm brings avalanche warning in Sierra, rain to Big Bear
December 19, 2010 | 2:31 pm
A fierce winter storm is dumping several feet of fresh snow in the Mammoth and Lake Tahoe ski areas, prompting forecasters to issue avalanche warnings in the backcountry there.
But in ski resorts closer to Los Angeles, the storms are dropping rain in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountain ski resorts, leaving sloppy conditions, the National Weather Service said.
"The snow level is too high" for powder to be falling in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains, said Tina Stall, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in San Diego. The storms are "tapping moisture from the tropics, so it's warm." Big Bear City saw 0.85 inche of rain so far this weekend; Wrightwood, 1.26; and Lake Arrowhead, 1.29.
Fresh powder, however, may arrive in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountain ski resorts Tuesday and Wednesday, when the snow level will drop down to 6,000 or 6,500 feet, Stall said.
In the meantime, aided by colder weather farther north, ski resorts in Northern California have been accumulating impressive amounts of snow. At Mammoth Mountain, 9 feet of new snow has fallen at the top of the peak since Friday morning, and 6.5 feet has fallen at its base.
"Measuring snow in inches is *so* last week: we busted out the yardstick," @MammothMountain bragged on its Twitter page.
Other accumulations were significant, with the Mount Rose Ski Area seeing 50 inches of fresh powder; Truckee, 42; Alpine Meadows, 53; and Kirkwood Ski Area, 52. Some roads are being closed because of avalanche concerns; U.S. Highway 395 was closed between the Nevada border and Bridgeport; and power lines were reported down near the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort, said the National Weather Service office in Reno.
By the end of the storm, as much as 5 to 10 feet of snow could be dropped in the Sierra, with snowfall rates of 2 to 4 inches an hour. Forecasters warned of "dangerous and life threatening conditions...due to rapid snow accumulations, near zero visibility and strong winds. Motorists should consider postponing travel plans to avoid dangerous travel conditions," the weather service said.
"It's going to make a great base for the ski resorts, especially right before the holiday," said Edan Lindaman, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Reno.
The rain broke records for this day in Bakersfield and Fresno. The National Weather Service said streets in Bakersfield were partially flooded with water or mud, citing reports from its employees and a local TV station.
Visitors arriving in Yosemite National Park for Christmas were reporting miserable conditions, but main roads in and out of the park were open. A winter storm warning was in effect for elevations above 7,000 feet.
For those traveling for the holiday season, Accuweather.com's Mike Pigott said the storm hovering over California is moving east toward the Rocky Mountains and could strike the East Coast on Christmas Day, hitting Philadelphia, New York City and Boston. Those cities could see their first significant snowfall on Christmas Day since 2002.
The storm could also dump 3 to 6 inches of snowfall on Monday in Minneapolis, which will be hosting Monday night's football game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears.
The game will be played outdoors at the University of Minnesota campus after the Metrodome's roof caved in last week from the weight of heavy snow. Minnesota last week faced its worst blizzard since 1991.
-- Rong-Gong Lin II and Jason Felch
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Filed at 3:11 p.m. EST
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A storm pounding California with record rain forced authorities in the San Joaquin Valley to call Monday for the evacuation of some 2,000 residents of the farming community of McFarland due to major flooding.
An estimated 400 to 500 homes were in danger, Kern County Fire Department spokesman Sean Collins said.
A sheriff's helicopter crew was trying to locate the source of the flooding, which possibly was coming from ditches and canals that supply water to farms, Collins said. Two evacuation centers were set up.
Stormy weather has gripped California since late last week, triggering mostly minor flooding, mudslide, road closures and power outages, but forecasters had warned of significant flooding dangers.
The storm was expected to intensify Tuesday night and Wednesday, with between five and 10 more inches of rain.
Virtually the entire state was affected, from coastal cities to the Central Valley, Sierra Nevada and southern deserts. Rainfall records fell, numerous traffic accidents snarled roads and trees tumbled.
Some locations in Southern California received more than 12 inches of rain, said meteorologist Jamie Meier of the National Weather Service. It was the most rainfall in one storm event since 2005, he said.
"That will make for a pretty good wallop, especially considering how dry things have been for the last two years," Meier said.
Flash-flood warnings were in effect for some places, particularly mountain areas still scarred by wildfires.
Residents of La Canada Flintridge were among those keeping a wary eye on the rain after a 250-square-mile wildfire last year denuded towering slopes above communities along the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
More than 40 homes in the hillside city just north of Los Angeles were damaged or destroyed by a mudslide in February.
"We are holding up," said resident Lien Yang, who added he was warned to be prepared to evacuate. "It's coming down steady but not pouring. Therefore it doesn't cause a mud flow or flooding or anything like that."
In the Sierra, the Sugar Bowl ski resort received as much as 60 inches of snow at upper elevations.
Elsewhere, a 20-mile stretch of scenic Pacific Coast Highway between Malibu and Oxnard was closed to commuters after a rock and mudslide Sunday night. The California Highway Patrol said no one was hurt. PCH also was closed for a time in Orange County by a mudslide at Dana Point.
Eastbound Highway 71 in Pomona was closed because of potholes and flooding, and a number of mountain roads were closed.
The stormy weather began hitting the northern part of the state late Thursday and southern areas on Friday, after a large storm front moving out of the Gulf of Alaska met with subtropical, moist air coming across the Pacific Ocean.
Elsewhere in Kern County, 10 people were evacuated Monday from three homes in Weldon due to flooding from a creek, and extensive flooding of farmland was occurring in the Lamont area, possibly due to a failure of a dike, Collins said.
The Los Angeles area, including downtown, Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley, received 3 inches to 4 inches of rainfall, while mountain areas got much more. In Monterey County, Three Peaks recorded 13.74 inches between Thursday evening and Sunday night.
Rainfall records weren't just broken, they were obliterated. The weather service said 3.45 inches of rain fell in Pasadena on Sunday, shattering the old mark of 1.5 inches on the same date in 1987. Since the storm began, the city had received more than 5 inches as of early Monday.
On the Central Coast, the Santa Maria River briefly overran its banks Sunday and caused flooding in Guadalupe in Santa Barbara County, forcing an underdetermined number of people to leave their homes.
The Santa Maria Times reported the high waters began receding in the evening. Gibraltar Reservoir on the Santa Ynez River had risen more than 4 feet since the storm began, the county Office of Emergency Services said.
In Woodland Hills, north of Los Angeles, a eucalyptus tree crashed onto the roof of a home, while a 40-foot tree fell onto an apartment building in Glendale. No injuries were reported.
Snow levels in Southern California were around 7,000 feet because the storm was so warm, but Tuesday night's anticipated storm could be much colder, meteorologists said, and that should allow snow at elevations as low as 5,500 feet.
But in ski resorts closer to Los Angeles, the storms are dropping rain in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountain ski resorts, leaving sloppy conditions, the National Weather Service said.
"The snow level is too high" for powder to be falling in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains, said Tina Stall, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in San Diego. The storms are "tapping moisture from the tropics, so it's warm." Big Bear City saw 0.85 inche of rain so far this weekend; Wrightwood, 1.26; and Lake Arrowhead, 1.29.
Fresh powder, however, may arrive in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountain ski resorts Tuesday and Wednesday, when the snow level will drop down to 6,000 or 6,500 feet, Stall said.
In the meantime, aided by colder weather farther north, ski resorts in Northern California have been accumulating impressive amounts of snow. At Mammoth Mountain, 9 feet of new snow has fallen at the top of the peak since Friday morning, and 6.5 feet has fallen at its base.
"Measuring snow in inches is *so* last week: we busted out the yardstick," @MammothMountain bragged on its Twitter page.
Other accumulations were significant, with the Mount Rose Ski Area seeing 50 inches of fresh powder; Truckee, 42; Alpine Meadows, 53; and Kirkwood Ski Area, 52. Some roads are being closed because of avalanche concerns; U.S. Highway 395 was closed between the Nevada border and Bridgeport; and power lines were reported down near the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort, said the National Weather Service office in Reno.
By the end of the storm, as much as 5 to 10 feet of snow could be dropped in the Sierra, with snowfall rates of 2 to 4 inches an hour. Forecasters warned of "dangerous and life threatening conditions...due to rapid snow accumulations, near zero visibility and strong winds. Motorists should consider postponing travel plans to avoid dangerous travel conditions," the weather service said.
"It's going to make a great base for the ski resorts, especially right before the holiday," said Edan Lindaman, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Reno.
The rain broke records for this day in Bakersfield and Fresno. The National Weather Service said streets in Bakersfield were partially flooded with water or mud, citing reports from its employees and a local TV station.
Visitors arriving in Yosemite National Park for Christmas were reporting miserable conditions, but main roads in and out of the park were open. A winter storm warning was in effect for elevations above 7,000 feet.
For those traveling for the holiday season, Accuweather.com's Mike Pigott said the storm hovering over California is moving east toward the Rocky Mountains and could strike the East Coast on Christmas Day, hitting Philadelphia, New York City and Boston. Those cities could see their first significant snowfall on Christmas Day since 2002.
The storm could also dump 3 to 6 inches of snowfall on Monday in Minneapolis, which will be hosting Monday night's football game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears.
The game will be played outdoors at the University of Minnesota campus after the Metrodome's roof caved in last week from the weight of heavy snow. Minnesota last week faced its worst blizzard since 1991.
-- Rong-Gong Lin II and Jason Felch
*********************************************************************************
Evacuations for Storm in California
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 20, 2010
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A storm pounding California with record rain forced authorities in the San Joaquin Valley to call Monday for the evacuation of some 2,000 residents of the farming community of McFarland due to major flooding.
An estimated 400 to 500 homes were in danger, Kern County Fire Department spokesman Sean Collins said.
A sheriff's helicopter crew was trying to locate the source of the flooding, which possibly was coming from ditches and canals that supply water to farms, Collins said. Two evacuation centers were set up.
Stormy weather has gripped California since late last week, triggering mostly minor flooding, mudslide, road closures and power outages, but forecasters had warned of significant flooding dangers.
The storm was expected to intensify Tuesday night and Wednesday, with between five and 10 more inches of rain.
Virtually the entire state was affected, from coastal cities to the Central Valley, Sierra Nevada and southern deserts. Rainfall records fell, numerous traffic accidents snarled roads and trees tumbled.
Some locations in Southern California received more than 12 inches of rain, said meteorologist Jamie Meier of the National Weather Service. It was the most rainfall in one storm event since 2005, he said.
"That will make for a pretty good wallop, especially considering how dry things have been for the last two years," Meier said.
Flash-flood warnings were in effect for some places, particularly mountain areas still scarred by wildfires.
Residents of La Canada Flintridge were among those keeping a wary eye on the rain after a 250-square-mile wildfire last year denuded towering slopes above communities along the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
More than 40 homes in the hillside city just north of Los Angeles were damaged or destroyed by a mudslide in February.
"We are holding up," said resident Lien Yang, who added he was warned to be prepared to evacuate. "It's coming down steady but not pouring. Therefore it doesn't cause a mud flow or flooding or anything like that."
In the Sierra, the Sugar Bowl ski resort received as much as 60 inches of snow at upper elevations.
Elsewhere, a 20-mile stretch of scenic Pacific Coast Highway between Malibu and Oxnard was closed to commuters after a rock and mudslide Sunday night. The California Highway Patrol said no one was hurt. PCH also was closed for a time in Orange County by a mudslide at Dana Point.
Eastbound Highway 71 in Pomona was closed because of potholes and flooding, and a number of mountain roads were closed.
The stormy weather began hitting the northern part of the state late Thursday and southern areas on Friday, after a large storm front moving out of the Gulf of Alaska met with subtropical, moist air coming across the Pacific Ocean.
Elsewhere in Kern County, 10 people were evacuated Monday from three homes in Weldon due to flooding from a creek, and extensive flooding of farmland was occurring in the Lamont area, possibly due to a failure of a dike, Collins said.
The Los Angeles area, including downtown, Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley, received 3 inches to 4 inches of rainfall, while mountain areas got much more. In Monterey County, Three Peaks recorded 13.74 inches between Thursday evening and Sunday night.
Rainfall records weren't just broken, they were obliterated. The weather service said 3.45 inches of rain fell in Pasadena on Sunday, shattering the old mark of 1.5 inches on the same date in 1987. Since the storm began, the city had received more than 5 inches as of early Monday.
On the Central Coast, the Santa Maria River briefly overran its banks Sunday and caused flooding in Guadalupe in Santa Barbara County, forcing an underdetermined number of people to leave their homes.
The Santa Maria Times reported the high waters began receding in the evening. Gibraltar Reservoir on the Santa Ynez River had risen more than 4 feet since the storm began, the county Office of Emergency Services said.
In Woodland Hills, north of Los Angeles, a eucalyptus tree crashed onto the roof of a home, while a 40-foot tree fell onto an apartment building in Glendale. No injuries were reported.
Snow levels in Southern California were around 7,000 feet because the storm was so warm, but Tuesday night's anticipated storm could be much colder, meteorologists said, and that should allow snow at elevations as low as 5,500 feet.
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