A series of powerful holiday storms that battered California, claiming four lives and severely disrupting Christmas travel, is expected to ease briefly over the weekend. However, weather officials have issued a fresh warning for more wet weather, set to drench the already saturated state starting on New Year's Eve.
Destructive Impact of the Holiday Deluge
Over the past week, heavy rains and fierce winds lashed much of California. The severe weather triggered flash floods, mudslides, and widespread power outages, leading to waterlogged highways and significant flight delays. The National Weather Service reported that some regions received more than 17 inches of rain, with wind speeds exceeding 110 miles per hour. In a rare event, a tornado touched down in a Los Angeles neighborhood, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
The human cost of the storms has been severe. According to NBC News, four fatalities are linked to the atmospheric rivers. The victims include a man discovered dead inside a van buried in mud in Lancaster, a Sacramento County sheriff's deputy killed in a Christmas Eve crash, a San Diego man struck by a falling tree branch, and a Redding man who perished in severe flooding in Northern California.
Travel Chaos and Infrastructure Damage
The storms crippled transportation and recreational activities. At Mammoth Mountain, two ski patrollers were hospitalized after being caught in an avalanche on Friday. All lifts at the popular ski area remained closed on Saturday, following 38 inches of new snow and 60 mph wind gusts. Heavenly Lake Tahoe resort was operating only 13 of its 27 lifts, despite reporting a massive 58 inches of fresh snow in seven days.
Power infrastructure also took a major hit. At the peak of the outages on Friday afternoon, over 50,000 homes and businesses, primarily in Northern California, were left in the dark. Emergency services were stretched thin, with the Los Angeles Fire Department deploying a helicopter to rescue a woman swept into a stormwater channel.
Fire Scars Heighten Landslide Risk
The danger is amplified in areas recently scarred by wildfires. Several days of heavy rain hit Los Angeles regions that were devastated by massive blazes about a year ago. The charred, hydrophobic soil in these burn scars cannot absorb water effectively, dramatically increasing the risk of landslides and mudslides. Meteorologist Scott Kleebauer from the Weather Prediction Center explained that rain runs off these areas "like it's hitting hard dirt or concrete," a persistent risk that can last for years until vegetation recovers.
The mountain regions bore the brunt of the precipitation. From the San Gabriel Mountains in the south to the Sierra Nevada in the north, locations like Mount Baldy received over 6 inches of rain, triggering mudslides in places like Wrightwood, which is near the massive 2024 Bridge Fire burn area.
Brief Respite Before New Year's Eve Soaking
While much of California will enjoy sunny skies this weekend, authorities caution that gusty winds in Southern California through Monday and Tuesday could cause further damage by toppling trees in the rain-softened ground. The reprieve will be short-lived.
The National Weather Service forecasts another round of rain to arrive on New Year's Eve and continue into New Year's Day. Although expected to be weaker than the previous atmospheric rivers, this new system could still bring up to 1.5 inches of rain to parts of Southern California between midnight and 10 p.m. on January 1st, posing renewed threats of flooding and disruption.
