WINDSOR, California, USA (AP) — Meteorologists across the United States issued warnings that a new round of winter weather could complicate travel during Thanksgiving week, while California and the state of Washington continue to recover from storm damage and power outages.
In California, where a person was found dead inside a vehicle submerged by flooding on Saturday, authorities were preparing for more precipitation while still dealing with flooding and small landslides caused by a previous storm.
Where are the new fronts of bad weather forecasted in the United States?
The National Weather Service office in Sacramento, California, issued a winter storm warning for the Sierra Nevada in the state from Saturday to Tuesday, with forecasts of heavy snowfall at high elevations and wind gusts of up to 88 km/h (55 mph). Snow accumulation of approximately 1.2 meters (4 feet) is expected, with the heaviest accumulations on Monday and Tuesday.
Rain and snow are expected on Monday in the central-northern regions of the United States and the Great Lakes, with the East Coast being the most affected during Thanksgiving and Black Friday, according to meteorologists.
A low-pressure system is forecasted to bring rain to the southeast early on Thursday before heading northeast. Areas from Boston to New York could receive rain and windy conditions, with a chance of snow in parts of northern New Hampshire, northern Maine, and the Adirondack Mountains. Meteorologists indicated that if the system shifts further inland, there could be less snow and more rain in the mountains.
"The system doesn't seem to be very potent at the moment," said Hayden Frank, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Massachusetts on Sunday. "Basically, this will bring rain to the I-95 corridor, so travelers should prepare for wet weather. Unless the system turns much colder, it looks like it will be rain."
Frank mentioned that he doesn't see any major storm system coming for the weekend anywhere in the country, so travelers returning home on Sunday can expect good driving conditions. However, temperatures will cool down in the East while warming up in the West.
A deadly "bomb cyclone" on the west coast
Earlier this week, two people died when the storm hit the Pacific Northwest. Hundreds of thousands were left without power, mainly in the Seattle area, before the strong winds moved through Northern California. A "bomb cyclone" that rapidly intensified and hit the West Coast on Tuesday unleashed strong winds that caused damage to homes and vehicles.
Rescuers in the town of Guerneville, California, recovered a body inside a vehicle after a flood around 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, reported Rob Dillion, undersheriff of Sonoma County and spokesperson for the local police. It is presumed that this person died as a result of the storm, but a necropsy had not yet been performed.
The city of Santa Rosa, California, recorded its three-day rainiest period with about 32 centimeters (12.5 inches) of precipitation on Friday night, according to the National Weather Service office in the San Francisco Bay Area. On Saturday, the vineyards in the town of Windsor, located about 16 kilometers (10 miles) to the north, were flooded.
Around 36,000 people in the Seattle area were still without power after the atmospheric river - a column of moisture that forms over an ocean and flows through the sky over land - strongest of the season.
The northeast receives much-needed precipitation.
Another storm brought rain to New York and New Jersey, where in recent weeks rare wildfires have occurred, and heavy snowfall to the northeast of Pennsylvania. The precipitation is expected to help improve conditions after an exceptionally dry autumn.
"It's not going to be the end of the drought, but it will definitely help when all of this melts," said Bryan Greenblatt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Binghamton, New York.
A heavy snowfall hit northeastern Pennsylvania, including the Pocono Mountains. At higher elevations, up to 43 centimeters (17 inches) were reported, with lesser accumulations in valley cities like Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. Less than 35,000 customers in 10 counties were still without power, a decrease from the 80,000 reported the previous day.
In the Catskills region in New York, nearly 10,000 people were still without electricity on Sunday morning, two days after a storm left heavy snowfall in parts of the region.
The precipitation in West Virginia helped alleviate the state’s worst drought in at least two decades and provided a boost for West Virginia ski resorts that are preparing to open their slopes in the coming weeks.