A truck drives by means of a flooded intersection in Salinas, Calif., final Tuesday, Dec. 27. A sequence of “atmospheric river” storms are hitting California, elevating the dangers of floods, mudslides and different threats.

Nic Coury/AP

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Nic Coury/AP

A truck drives by means of a flooded intersection in Salinas, Calif., final Tuesday, Dec. 27. A sequence of “atmospheric river” storms are hitting California, elevating the dangers of floods, mudslides and different threats.

Nic Coury/AP

Forecasters in Northern California have a sobering new-year message for people who find themselves reeling from floods and mudslides: the scenario might worsen earlier than it will get higher.

Parts of the state remained below flash flood warnings Monday morning, after a climate phenomenon often known as an atmospheric river dropped historic rain ranges on San Francisco, Oakland and different areas. But a second atmospheric river is predicted to reach quickly — and will probably be as dangerous or worse than the New Year’s Eve deluge, forecasters warn.

“Much like the end of 2022 storm, this will be a strong wind event along with moderate to heavy rainfall,” the National Weather Service in the San Francisco Bay Area said on Monday.

It’s the third atmospheric river to hit the area since Dec. 26, the workplace mentioned, including that elements of the Russian River at the moment are at explicit flood danger. The NWS additionally says the storm’s excessive winds might inflict extreme injury in areas the place the soil is already saturated with rainwater.

Here’s a rundown of the place issues stand, and the place forecasters say they’re headed:

The storm looms over a area dealing with floods

As the brand new yr arrived, a big swath of California was hit with heavy rain and snow. Floods and rock slides closed roads, and excessive winds knocked out electrical energy for tens of 1000’s of individuals.

San Francisco’s downtown NWS web site recorded 5.46 inches of rain on Dec. 31 — the second-wettest day at that location in additional than 170 years, the NWS said.

As of noon Monday native time, round 39,000 electrical energy accounts have been with out energy in California, with one other 20,000 in Nevada, based on PowerOutage.us.

In the Sierra area, the storm dropped snow at a charge as much as 7.5 inches per hour, based on the NWS office in Reno. The Tahoe basin noticed 20 to 24 inches of snow at lake stage, with roughly twice that quantity above 7,000 ft.

Emergency crews rescued folks from automobiles that could not transfer due to floodwaters. At least one dying was linked to the weekend storm, after employees in southern Sacramento County discovered an individual useless inside a automobile submerged in water close to Highway 99, as member station Capital Public Radio reports.

On Sunday, Sacramento’s Mary Spencer-Gode and different residents gaped on the injury on their avenue, the place the storm toppled a large elm tree on New Year’s Eve.

“The wind was just going crazy,” she informed Capital Public Radio. “We turned our TV off so we could hear it, and I was sitting in the kitchen, I heard a big ‘woosh’ and kind of the house moved.”

Then got here extra flood worries: Sacramento County authorities on Sunday escalated an evacuation warning for the neighborhood of Point Pleasant to an evacuation order, saying flooding was imminent and would “become incredibly dangerous after sunset.”

Across California, gentle precipitation is predicted early this week — the primary of two smaller programs that forecasters predict will bracket an intense storm referred to as an atmospheric river.

Rock and dust slides have closed roadways throughout California prior to now week, as a sequence of storms ushered within the new yr. In this picture launched by Micah Crockett, District 2 Weaverville Maintenance Supervisor, heavy equipment is seen eradicating a rock slide on State Route 299, in Trinity County, between Burnt Ranch and Hawkins Bar in Burnt Ranch, Calif., on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022.

Micah Crockett/Caltrans District 2 by way of AP

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Micah Crockett/Caltrans District 2 by way of AP

Rock and dust slides have closed roadways throughout California prior to now week, as a sequence of storms ushered within the new yr. In this picture launched by Micah Crockett, District 2 Weaverville Maintenance Supervisor, heavy equipment is seen eradicating a rock slide on State Route 299, in Trinity County, between Burnt Ranch and Hawkins Bar in Burnt Ranch, Calif., on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022.

Micah Crockett/Caltrans District 2 by way of AP

Wait, what’s an atmospheric river?

Atmospheric rivers are a standard a part of the West Coast’s climate sample, they usually’re usually the answer to months of warm-weather drought, bringing sorely wanted rain and snowfall that packs water away excessive within the mountains.

“It’s just a narrow area of high moisture that gets transported away from the tropics towards the higher latitudes,” usually earlier than a chilly entrance arrives, as NWS senior forecaster Bob Oravec recently told NPR.

For states alongside the West Coast, atmospheric rivers are “actually responsible for a good majority of the rainfall during the colder season, which is the season when they get most of their rain,” Oravec mentioned.

The precipitation might be excessive: a single atmospheric river “can carry more water than the Mississippi River at its mouth,” as NPR has reported. And forecasters have lengthy warned that the programs’ winds are very harmful. Five years in the past, one of many storms toppled the legendary “Pioneer Cabin Tree” sequoia in Calaveras Big Trees State Park.

Atmospheric rivers usually tend to happen in a La Niña local weather sample just like the one we’re now seeing, with waters within the Pacific Ocean cooler than common. This is the third consecutive winter through which La Niña has prevailed, based on Climate.gov.

Much of California is dealing with the specter of extra heavy rain and robust winds, as an atmospheric river approaches. In this picture launched by California Highway Patrol Truckee, automobiles are seen on New Year’s Eve, stranded alongside Interstate 80 on the Nevada state line and Colfax, Calif.

California Highway Patrol Truckee by way of AP

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California Highway Patrol Truckee by way of AP

Much of California is dealing with the specter of extra heavy rain and robust winds, as an atmospheric river approaches. In this picture launched by California Highway Patrol Truckee, automobiles are seen on New Year’s Eve, stranded alongside Interstate 80 on the Nevada state line and Colfax, Calif.

California Highway Patrol Truckee by way of AP

Expect to see the atmospheric river arrive by Wednesday

The robust Pacific storm system will seemingly begin to hit California by late Tuesday and early Wednesday, based on the Bay Area NWS office, which says the storm has constantly proven “impressive numbers.”

Predictions at the moment present the storm slowing because it nears and arrives over land, boosting the injury it might do and prompting forecasters alongside the California coast to boost the alarm.

On Wednesday, the atmospheric river might deliver 2 to three inches of rain in California’s Central Valley, with 3 to six inches within the foothills and mountains, the NWS workplace in Sacramento said. In addition, a powerful low-level jet stream will deliver wind gusts of 35-50 mph within the valley and foothills, with winds hitting 60 mph within the mountains.

Because of its anticipated longer period and prodigious quantity of moisture, the incoming storm “should surpass the Saturday night storm by at least an inch and likely more in the upslope areas,” the NWS workplace in Oxnard and Los Angeles said, including that the rain is predicted to taper off Thursday evening into Friday.

Along with flooding, the chance of mudslides is particularly excessive in websites of latest wildfires, the place there isn’t any longer sufficient floor cowl to soak up and retain moisture.