- 85,000 households and businesses were without power in Los Angeles.
- The main highway leading north out of the city remained closed.
- San Francisco was anticipated to have record-low temperatures on Saturday.
Nearly 85,000 households and businesses were without power in the Los Angeles area on Saturday, as storms continued to pummel parts of California, bringing snow to higher elevations and dumping rain and hail in the flatlands.
The California Department of Transportation reported that Interstate 5, the main highway leading north out of the city, remained closed at the steep grade known as the Grapevine due to heavy snow, while several other southern points of the motorway in and around Los Angeles were closed due to flooding.
In Northern California, San Francisco was anticipated to have record-low temperatures on Saturday, while the National Weather Service cautioned residents of Sacramento to avoid travel from Sunday to Wednesday when rain and snow returned following a brief respite on Saturday.
“Extreme impacts from heavy snow & winds will cause extremely dangerous to impossible driving conditions & likely widespread road closures & infrastructure impacts!” the agency said on Twitter.
Wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour (80 kph) are forecast in the Sacramento Valley on Sunday and up to 70 miles per hour in the neighboring Sierra Nevada mountains. Due to extreme winter weather, Yosemite National Park was closed until Wednesday.
According to Bryan Jackson, a forecaster at the NWS Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland, the exceptional conditions were caused by a large low-pressure system driven from the Arctic.
In Southern California, “this is a rare case of a cold, significant storm event,” Jackson said.
Snowflakes even fell around the Hollywood sign atop Mount Lee in the hills above the city, which is famed for its bright days and palm trees, which must have pleased many Angelenos on Friday.
The National Weather Service predicted scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms on Saturday, bringing rain, hail, and a mixture of snow and moisture known as “graupel” to the area.
A different storm that hit the Plains, Midwest, and Great Lakes earlier this week blasted out to the Atlantic on Friday after passing over New England, according to the weather service. According to Detroit News, more than 400,000 DTE Energy (DTE.N) customers were still without power on Saturday.
Even before the latest storm, much of California had experienced an unusually rainy, chilly winter, starting with a spate of deadly “atmospheric river” storms that unleashed widespread flooding, felled trees, and triggered mudslides in a state long plagued by drought and wildfires.
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