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 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 (3-meter) waves — and a few at up to 14 feet (4.3 meters) — 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 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 Wednesday, more than 65 million people in more than two dozen states were under weather alerts.

(Source AP)