California hit by flooding, snow, landslides, winds, wildfires, and an earthquake, all in one day

Nearly a dozen weather phenomena occurred in California Thursday as the state lived up to its reputation.

In a state known for both "boring" and "scary" weather— as well as frequent natural disasters — California lived up to its reputation on Thursday, featuring a cornucopia of weather and disaster phenomena.

Heavy rain causes flooding and landslides

A pair of storm systems that will continue to pound the state through the weekend had already begun to move in by Thursday, bringing heavy rain in the northern half of the state. The downpours soaked northern and central parts of the state, triggering a dozen landslides across as many counties.

The California Highway Patrol also reported multiple rock slides impacting State Route 162 North, near Oroville Dam. The National Weather Service also logged an additional 23 reports of flooding on roads and highways.

Fog and snow in the mountains

Snow fell in the mountains, though only a few inches accumulated by day's end. A webcam atop Mammoth Mountain — a ski area in the southern Sierra — showed a mix of rain, snow and fog during the day.

Lightning strikes

Some of the rain came with thunder and lightning. A total of 189 lightning strikes were recorded by the AccuWeather Lightning Network across the central part of the state on Thursday.

High winds cause trees to fall, dust to blow

By early Thursday afternoon, 80-mph winds had been reported at Pine Mountain, with a 73-mph gust at Lagunitas and 72-mph winds at Montara, all in the mountains about 20 miles northwest of San Francisco.

Later in the day, winds gusted above hurricane force again near the Nevada border, including 105 mph at Tahoe, 78 mph at Mean Peak and 76 mph at Crowley Lake.

There were 18 reports of wind damage statewide, mostly trees down on roadways. Some trees toppled power lines, leaving 22,000 customers without electricity Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.US.

Blowing dust was reported on California Route 99, about 20 miles south of Bakersfield.

Rapidly growing wildfires, and a rainbow

The high winds fanned wildfires in the region. A new blaze, the Pack Fire, sparked near Crowley Lake in the Mammoth Mountain area. Driven by strong winds, the fire spread quickly, burning 3,400 acres and destroying 15 structures. A police photo showed the wildfire burning beneath a rainbow as heavy rain approached the area. Conditions later improved with the rainfall, but the Pack Fire remained 0% contained as of Friday morning.

And an earthquake rocks the Bay Area

Although minor earthquakes are quite common in California, residents probably could have done without the 3.5 magnitude earthquake that happened near Vallejo, 25 miles northeast of San Francisco around noon PST, which caused mild shaking from San Jose to Sacramento.

All in a day's weather

In less than 24 hours, California experienced nearly a dozen weather and natural events — heavy rain, flooding, lightning, snow, high winds, landslides, fog, blowing dust, wildfires, a rainbow and an earthquake. And this came just one day after the aurora illuminated skies across the state and much of the nation.

Unfortunately, flooding and landslides are likely to continue through the weekend in Southern California, as more heavy rain moves into the area, where some parts of the region could receive up to one-third of their winter rainfall.

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