California may get slammed by brutal storm front sweeping US

A brutal winter storm that trapped drivers on icy roads, blacked out hundreds of thousands of homes, grounded airplanes and closed schools across much of the country was poised to slam California on Thursday.

“We are in for a VERY busy week!" the National Weather Service bureau in San Diego tweeted. “We have issued warnings for damaging winds, heavy mountain snow, highly hazardous boating conditions and the list goes on."

For the first time since 1989, the weather service issued a blizzard warning for Southern California mountains that runs through Saturday. Some coastal areas could see 10-foot waves — and a few at up to 14 feet — through Thursday, forecasters said.

“Nearly the entire population of CA will be able to see snow from some vantage point later this week if they look in the right direction (i.e., toward the highest hills in vicinity),” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain tweeted on Wednesday.

The storm, one in a series that was expected to pummel the country through the week, sowed chaos coast to coast. At one point on Wednesday, more than 65 million people in more than two dozen states were under weather alerts.

The wintry mix hit hard in the northern US, closing schools, offices, even shutting down the Minnesota Legislature. About 90 churches in western Michigan cancelled Ash Wednesday services, WZZM-TV reported.

In Wyoming, the state Transportation Department posted on social media that roads across much of the southern part of the state were impassable.

Rescuers tried to reach people stranded in vehicles but high winds and drifting snow created a “near-impossible situation” for them, said Sgt. Jeremy Beck of the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

“They know their locations, it’s just hard for them to get them,” he said.

In the Pacific Northwest, high winds and heavy snow in the Cascade Mountains prevented search teams from reaching the bodies of three climbers killed in an avalanche on Washington’s Colchuck Peak over the weekend.

Unexpectedly heavy snow during rush hour sent dozens of cars spinning out in Portland, Oregon, and caused hours-long traffic jams. The regional bus service offered free rides to warming shelters for homeless individuals.

In Arizona, about 289km of Interstate 40 were closed while state police in New Mexico shut down on-ramps in Gallup, just across the Arizona line.

The National Weather Service warned of the potential for blinding, wind-whipped snow, especially on Thursday afternoon into the night when up to a 1.2 centimeters per hour could fall.

In California, a blizzard warning was in effect through Saturday for higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada, where forecasters said conditions could include several feet of snow blown by 96-kmph gusts and wind chill could drop the temperature to minus 40 degrees Celsius.

In Sacramento, the state capital, the weather service said it had received reports of something that might be either hail or graupel — soft, wet snowflakes encased in supercooled water droplets.

Electrical grids took a beating as ice encrusted utility lines in the North and gusty winds knocked down lines or fouled them with tree branches and other debris in California.

A half-inch of ice covering a wire “is the equivalent of having a baby grand piano on that single span of wire, so the weight is significant”, said Matt Paul, executive vice-president of distribution operations for Detroit-based DTE Electric.

The storm will make its way toward the East Coast later this week. Places that don’t get snow may get dangerous amounts of ice, forecasters warned.